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BIBLICAL  INTERPRETATION. 


BRIEF     TREATISE 


CANON   AND    INTERPRETATION 


HOLY     SCRIPTURES 


FOR   THE    SPECIAL   BENEFIT   OP 


JUNIOR  THEOLOGICAL  STUDENTS: 


BUT    INTENDED    ALSO    FOR    PRIVATE    CHRISTIANS    IN    GENERAL. 


By  ALEx/mcCLELLAND, 

PR0FBS3  0B   OF    BIBLICAL    LITERATURE   IN    THE   THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY 
AT  NEW   BRUNSWICS:. 


Seconir   Htrition,    Sniarsetr, 


NEW     YORK: 

ROBERT  CARTEK  AND  BROTHERS,  285  BROADWAY. 

1850 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Preface ix 


Introduction 


PART   I. 

GENUINENESS  AND  CANONICAL  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

CHAPTER     I. 
Genuineness  and  Canonical  Authority  of  the  New  Testament        29 

C  HAPTE  R     II. 
Genuineness  and  Canonical  Authority  of  the  Old  Testament        61 

PART  11.    s 

HERMENEUTICS,    OR    THE    INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Definitions      .         .         .         • 91 

MAXIM    I. 
The  object  of  interpretation  is  to  give  the  precise  thoughts 

which  the  sacred  writer  intended  to  express  .        ,        93 

1 


VI  CONTENTS. 

MAXIM    II. 
The  method   of  interpreting  Scripture  must   be  the  same 

which  we  employ  in  explaining  any  other  book  .         97 

MAXIM    III. 

The  senseof  Scripture  is   (in  general)  one  ;  in   other  words, 

we  are  not  to  assign  many  meanings  to  a  passage  .         99 

MAXIM    IV. 
The  interpretation  of  Scripture  requires  suitable  preparation       102 


SPECIAL    RULES. 

RULE    I, 
Carefully  investigate  what  is  called  the  "  Usus  Loquendi;" 
or  the  meaning  which  custom  and  common  usage  attach 
to  expressions  ........       109 

RULE   II. 
E  .amine  the  parallel  passages '115 

RULE   III. 

Tiie  consideration  of  the  Author's  scope  greatly  facilitates 

interpretation 122 

RULE   IV. 
E.vamine  the  context 126 

RULE  V. 
We  must  know  the  character,  age,  sect,  and  other  peculi- 
arities of  the  writer 137 

RULE   VI. 
Let  there  be  a  constant  appeal  to  the  tribunal  of  common 

Beuse •        .        .        »        .       143 


* 


CONTENTS.  VU 


RULE    VII. 


Study  attentively  the  tropes  and  figures  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures         154 

RULE    VIII. 
Attend  to  Hebrew  and  Hebraistic  idioms      ....       180 

RULE    IX. 

Much  of  Scripture  being  Prophetical,  we  should  acquaint 
ourselves  with  the  nature  and  laws  of  that  kind  of 
composition 189 

4  RULE    X. 

Allow  no  interpretation,  that  will  cast  a  shade  of  doubt  over 
the  perfect  purity  of  our  Lord's  teachings,  or  those  of  his 
Apostles  .         .         .       ^ 213 

RULE   XI. 

We  must  endavor  to  obtain  reasonable  certainty,  that  the 
printed  text  gives  the  true  reading  of  our  book  ;  and 
for  this  purpose,  must  study  and  apply  the  art  of 
Criticism 227 


PREFACE 


The  following  work  was  drawn  up  with  exclusive  refer- 
ence to  the  wants  of  the  Junior  Class  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  with  which  the  author  is  connected,  and  was 
intended  as  a  general  introduction  to  the  subject  of  which 
it  treats.  His  design  in  publishing  it,  is  to  spare  the  young 
gentlemen  some  weary  hours  in  writing  imperfect  and  erro- 
neous transcripts,  while  he  thinks  that  it  may  be  useful  to 
others  in  their  situation. 

He  has  attempted  to  exhibit  the  subject  he  has  under- 
taken to  discuss,  in  a  form  so  popular  and  devoid  of  techni- 
cality, that  the  student  fresh  from  a  literary  institution  can 
comprehend  the  whole  in  a  few  sittings,  and  make  an  im- 
mediate use  of  it  in  reading  the  Scriptures. 

Part  I.  treats  of  their  genuineness  and  canonical  autho- 
rity. That  some  preparation  of  this  kind  is  proper  and 
necessary,  before  entering  on  the  study  of  them,  will  not 
be  questioned.  Every  man,  when  he  takes  up  a  volume, 
should    know    with   some    degree    of    certainty — what   it 


X  PREFACE. 

is,  by  whom  written,  and  with  what  measure  ot  authority 
it  addresses  him.  If  this  be  true  generally,  how  especially 
important  in  reference  to  a  volume  making  such  lofty  claims 
as  the  Old  and  'New  Testaments !  Our  discussion  of  the 
subject  is  necessarily  brief,  but  it  will  furnish  the  student 
with  useful  general  ideas,  on  which  he  may  at  a  future  time, 
build  a  more  complete  and  extensive  edifice.  On  one  point 
we  may  be  thought  needlessly  diffuse,  viz.,  the  allegation  of 
testimonies.  But  it  was  desirable  to  make  a  full  and  fair 
impression  on  the  mind ;  and  this  could  only  be  done,  by 
spreading  before  it  a  considerable  mass  of  authorities,  in  the 
very  words  of  the  writers.  This  has  unavoidably  given  a 
dry  and  unpopular  cast  to  the  discussion :  but  we  did  not 
undertake  to  write  a  novel. 

Part  II.  contains  the  principles  and  rules  of  interpre- 
tation. We  have  here  also  aimed  at  brevity,  and  con- 
densation ;  but  have  not  forgotten  the  necessity  of  guarding 
against  obscurity,  by  appropriate  illustrations.  Young 
minds  are  not  successfully  addressed  by  dry  apothegms  and 
abstractions.  Cases  must  be  adduced,  to  give  the  lessons 
imparted — hue  and  coloring,  and  the  form  of  composition 
should  be  that  of  continued  argument,  both  to  satisfy  the 
understanding  and  impress  the  memory.  Wliether  a  happy 
selection  of  examples  has  been  made,  others  must  pro- 
nounce— not  the  author  :  they  are,  for  the  most  part,  such 
as  occurred  at  the   time  of  writing.     With  regard   to  the 


PREFACE 


originality  of  the  work,  lofty  pretensions  to  new  discovery 
on  so  beaten  a  topic  as  the  meaning  of  Scripture,  would 
be  extremely  silly,  and  prove  that  the  work  is,  in  reality, 
worthless.  Yet  the  intelligent  reader  will  perceive,  that  I 
endeavor  to  do  my  own  thinking  on  the  different  points — 
asking  for  the  old  paths,  without  surrendering  private 
judgment,  or  anxiously  keeping  my  wheel  in  another  man's 

rut. 

I  have  only  to  add,  that  there  are  scarcely  three  pages  in 
the  whole  volume,  so  exclusively  addressed  to  theological 
students,  that  the  unlearned  reader  can  derive  no  advantage 
from  them.  It  is  hoped  therefore,  that  private  Christians 
will  not  find  their  money  thrown  away  in  purchasing  it.  To 
them  as  well  as  to  the  ministry,  our  blessed  Lord  addresses 
the  command,  "  Search  the  Scriptures  ;"  and  the  manner  of 
their  performing  the  duty,  will  be  a  solemn  item  in  the  ac- 
count which  they  must  render. 

The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  exhausted  long  before 
the  author  determined  on  publishing  a  second.  But  he 
found  so  much  rehef  by  the  use  of  it,  from  the  intolerable 
drudgery  connected  with  imparting  orally  to  young  men 
elementary  information,  that  its  continued  use  became 
almost  neccessary.  The  present  edition  is  greatly  enlarged. 
But  our  worthy  publisher  assures  us,  that  he  will  not 
greatly  enlarge  the  price. 


INTRODUCTION 


We  are  about  to  exhibit,  in  brief  compass,  evidence 
of  the  canonical  authority  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  rules 
by  which  the  Christian  student  should  be  guided  in 
the  study  of  its  contents.  Before  entering  on  the  dis- 
cussion, we  are  desirous  of  saying  a  few  words  on  the 
deep  responsibihty  which  those  whom  we  specially 
address,  are  under,  in  relation  to  this  matter.  Mere 
rules,  however  clearly  laid  down  and  faithfully  written 
on  the  tablets  of  memory,  will  be  of  little  avail,  unless 
accompanied  with  earnest,  vigorous,  and  untirino- 
labor  in  reducing  them  to  practice.  Allow  us.  then 
young  brethren,  to  speak  on  this  point,  with  frankness 
and  Christian  affection.  As  candidates  for  the  sacred 
office,  you  have  a  duty  to  perform  to  the  word  of  God 
which  requires  the  devotion  of  your  best  faculties  the 
consecration  of  all  your  time,  and  a  fixedness  of  pur- 
pose which  nothing  can  relax.  If  you  doubt  it,  look 
at  the  nature  of  that  office  ! 

Perhaps  Christianity  is  in  nothing  more  strikingly 
distinguished  from  other  religions,  than  in  the  func- 
1 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

tion  aad  duties  assigned  to  its  ministers.  The  priests 
of  heathenism,  never  dared  to  come  out  among  the 
people,  as  simple  promulgers  of  truth.  Indeed  they 
could  not  well  give  what  was  not  in  their  possession, 
and  this  they  knew.  Not  a  philosopher  of  the  porch 
or  academy/  laughed  more  heartily  than  themselves, 
at  the  ridiculous  impostures  they  were  daily  practising 
on  their  votaries !  What  their  system  w^anted  in 
solidity,  however,  they  made  up  in  form,  and  if  it 
could  not  speak  to  the  understanding,  it  should  at 
least  dazzle  the  senses,  and  captivate  the  imagina- 
tion. Hence  those  magnificent  structures,  whose 
broken  fragments  are  still  the  world's  admiration,  in 
whose  sacred  shrines  were  encased  the  wonderful 
achievements  of  statuary — the  all  but  breathing  Gods 
of  stone,  w^hich  modern  virtuosos  still  w^orship  with 
little  short  of  heathen  idolatry.  Hence  the  expensive 
sacrificial  rites  by  which  these  marble  gods  w^ere  pro- 
pitiated, the  pompous  festivals  and  processions,  the 
magnificent  exhibitions  of  poetry,  dance,  and  song, 
which  in  their  origin  were  purely  religious,  and  never 
entirely  lost  the  character  of  worship  rendered  to  the 
Deity.  Hence  the  famous  mysteries,  in  the  celebra- 
tion of  which  everything  was  combined  to  aw^e — to 
fascinate — to  bind  in  the  chains  of  an  abject  super- 
stition, the  man  w^ho  yielded  himself  to  their  bewitch- 
ments. 

But  far  different  is  the  spell,  which  our  holy  religion 
of  light  and  love  casts  on  the  human  faculties  !    Pre- 


INTRODUCTION.  11 

Judice  itself  cannot  deny,  that  whether  its  principles 
be  true  or  false,  they  belong  to  a  system  magnificently 
intellectual.  Far,  indeed,  are  we  from  supposing,  that 
its  exclusive  aim  is  to  rectify  speculative  error:  Its 
astonishing  power  over  the  heart/  is  a  fact  conceded 
by  all.  But  we  mean  to  say,  that  this  control  it  exer- 
cises/through  the  previous  mastery  it  has  obtained 
over  the  understanding — the  conscience — the  unso- 
phisticated sense  of  right  and  wrong.  It  calls  to  deep 
thoughts — grave  discourse^  soul-stirring  contempla- 
tions. The  themes  which  it  brings  before  the  mind, 
are  so  magnificent  and  enchained  with  infinity  itself, 
that  the  sublimest  intellect  is  lost,  before  it  has  entered 
on  their  investigation  ;  and  yet  so  congenial  to  reason, 
that  what  we  do  comprehend,  appear  almost  self- 
evident  propositions. 

It  tells  concerning  a  pure  x'Vlmighty  Spirit,  who,  by 
a  simple  act  of  will,  called  into  being  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  It  imparts  the  most  interesting  details 
concerning  his  providential  government,  informs  us  of 
our  primitive  condition,  and  gives  the  most  simple  and 
beautiful  solution  of  the  great  problem  which  has 
confounded  the  acutest  minds,  "  whence  come  evils 
upon  men. "  It  tells  us,  when,  and  where,  the  first 
notice  was  given  of  that  plan  of  mercy,  into  which 
angels  are  looking  with  growing  wonder  and  delight. 
It  relates  with  accuracy  the  preparatory  measures  for 
its  execution,  unfolding  his  mysterious  dealings  for 
more  than  a  thousand  years  with  that  singular  people, 


12  INTRODUCTION. 

whom  he  had  selected  to  be  the  depository  of 
prophecy  and  promise,  till  the  advent  oUmn,  in  whom 
all  families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.  Thus  far, 
we  are  only  in  the  holy  place  of  the  temple — and  now 
the  veil  is  rent  in  twain,  which  concealed  the  glories 
of  the  inner  house,  allowing  us  to  behold  the  true  ark 
and  the  living  fersonal  Shechinah^  '•  God  manifested 
in  the  flesh  ;"  who,  after  he  had  purged  our  sins, 
ascended  on  high,  and  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  heavenly  majesty  ! 

In  exact  correspondence  with  so  thoughtful  and 
suggestive  a  religion,  is  the  work  of  its  official  minis- 
ter. He  is  not  a  master  of  ceremonies,  presiding  over 
a  splendid  ritual,  which  fills  the  eye,  but  leaves  an 
aching  void  in  the  heart.  He  is.  by  divine  institution, 
a  teacher  ;  and  in  the  simple,  naked  grandeur  of  this 
character,  he  stands  before  the  people.  A  volume 
has  been  put  into  his  hands  of  rich  and  various  con- 
tents, nay,  absolutely  teeming  with  matter  ;  and  at 
the  peril  of  his  soul,  he  must  spread  it  out  in  its  whole 
length  and  breadth  before  his  hearers.  The  principle 
on  which  he  must  act,  is  this  simple  and  obvious  one, 
and  there  is  nothing  in  his  commission  which  he  may 
deliberately  overlook.  He  is  not  at  liberty  here. 
Some  parts  of  duty  may  perhaps  be  omitted  without 
subjecting  him  to  the  brand  of  gross  unfaithfulness. 
But  if  he  neglects  to  expound  the  sacred  volume,  if  he 
show  no  anxiety  to  form  among  his  people,  habits  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


\i 


carefully  reading  and  inwardly  digesting  it,   he  may 
well  tremble  at  the  thought  of  rendering  an  account. 

Labor  then — labor,  is  heaven's  first  law^  of  pre- 
paration for  the  gospel  ministry.  Vie  have  seen,  that 
the  Bible,  though  a  popular,  and  in  many  respects  an 
easy  book,  presents  serious  difficulties  to  him  who 
would  become  master  of  its  treasures.  Both  its  great 
divisions,  are  written  in  languages,  w^hich  have  long 
ceased  to  be  vernacular.  The  people  who  spoke  them, 
were  distinguished  by  remarkable  peculiarities  of 
opinion,  habits,  laws,  which  influenced  greatly  their 
modes  of  expression.  Besides  therefore,  possessing  a 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  Greek,  one  must  be  well 
acquainted  with  Jewish  and  classical  antiquities,  in- 
cluding chronology,  geography,  civil  and  religious  his- 
tory. Yet,  even  this  is  but  prehminary.  Now  comes 
the  actual  tug :  the  reading  of  verse  after  verse  with 
the  accurate  settling  of  every  philological  question  that 
arises,  by  aid  of  the  dictionary  and  grammar ;  the  ex- 
amining of  scope,  context,  parallelism,  idiom  and 
tropical  diction  ;  the  comparing  our  own  results  with 
those  of  somejudicious  commentator:  and  the  careful 
gathering  up  of  the  great  truths,  whether  doctrinal  or 
practical,  contained  in  every  paragraph.  These — are 
the  gymnastics,  by  which  the  young  Christian  athlete 
learns  to  endure  hardness,  and  becomes  a  skilful  and 
gallant  soldier  in  the  service  of  his  master  !  Do  you 
complain  of  the  arrangement  ?  Then  ask  the  Lord 
Jesus   Christ,   why  he  ordained  it ;  why  it  was  not 


14  INTRODUCTION. 

enough  to  tread  the  "dolorous  way"  in  his  own  per- 
son, without  imposing  vigils  and  self-denials  on  his 
followers  ?  Tell  him  plainly,  that  while  you  like  his 
wages,  you  dislike  the  labor  ;  and  wish  to  share  his 
kingdom  without  companionship  in  his  patience  and 
tribulation.  Does  your  cheek  mantle  with  shame  at 
the  suggestion?  Then  be  silent  young  man — and  to 
your  work  ! !  It  is  quite  honor  enough  for  the  disciple 
to  be  as  his  master,  and  the  servant  as  his  Lord. 

But  some  one  asks,  in  a  tone  half-apologetical, 
whether,  after  all,  much  of  the  trouble  we  have  spoken 
of  may  not  be  spared  ?  Are  we  not  blessed  with 
^'  king  James'  admirable  translation  of  the  Bible,"  and 
with  most  judicious  commentators,  in  whom  are  re- 
posited  as  much  criticism  and  literary  information,  as 
are  necessary  to  a  right  understanding  it  ?  Why,  as 
the  fountain  is  so  difficult  of  access,  not  content  our- 
selves with  these  delectable  pipes  at  our  very  door? 
We  confess,  that  language  like  this,  when  heard,  (as 
it  sometimes  is)  ruffles  our  good  humor.  God,  in 
his  infinite  kindness  to  men,  has  preserved  for  them 
an  ample  revelation  of  his  will,  by  a  series  of  dispen- 
sations falhng  little  short  of  miracle.  He  has  set  apart 
an  order  of  men  to  be  its  official  expounders,  and  the 
church  is  generously  sustaining  the  institution  by  its 
munificent  provision  for  the  gratuitous  education  of 
candidates  in  all  stages  of  their  progress,  and  when 
they  have  entered  on  their  work,  by  relieving  them 
from  every  worldly  care  and  avocation,  that  they  may 


INTRODUCTION.  H 

give  themselves  wholly  to  it,  and  their  profiting  may 
appear  to  all  men.  Yet  the  question  is  seriousl}^  asked, 
whether  a  practical  acquaintance  with  these  lively 
oracles  in  their  proper  dialects,  should  be  anxiously 
cultivated  by  the  Christian  minister ! ! 

We  blush  to  think  in  how  many  respects,  the  chil^ 
dren  of  the  world  are  wiser  than  the  children  of  light 
The  merchant's  clerk,  if  his  interest  point  that  way, 
w^ill  sit  down  and  master  French,  Spanish  and  Ger- 
man, without  heaving  a  sigh.  The  gentleman  who 
intends  to  travel  a  few  years  in  the  East,  grudges  no 
pains  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  Turkish,  Ara- 
bic, or  Lingua  Franca.  Even  the  girl  scarcely  in  her 
teens,  wearied  of  thrumming  on  her  guitar  to  the  harsh 
strains  of  her  native  English,  detern)ines,  and  carrier 
the  purpose  through  in  a  way  that  might  astonish 
many  a  grave  student  of  the  other  sex,  to  achieve  a 
conquest  over  the]  sweetly-flowing  Italian.  But  the 
professed  interpreter  of  God's  holy  word,  the  legate  of 
the  skies,  is  so  astounded  at  the  thought  of  learning 
effectively  a  pair  of  languages — than  either  of  which, 
a  finer  never  vibrated  on  the  human  ear,  that  he  pre- 
fers to  live  and  die,  just  able  to  spell  the  letters  of  his 
commission ! 

With  regard  to  our  English  translation,  much  as 
we  admire  that  noble  monument  of  ''  English  pure 
and  undefiled,"  which  will  last  probably  as  long  as 
the  world;  we  say  to  those  who  quote  it  in  the  present 
argument,  that  it  is  an  exceedingly  imperfect  repre- 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

sentation  of  the  original.  The  venerable  men  who 
formed  it,  were  not  profoundly  versed  in  either  Greek 
or  Hebrew,  though  their  attainments  were  eminent 
for  the  day  in  which  they  lived  ;  and  accordingly, 
there  are  not  a  few  instances  in  every  page,  where 
^he  sense  is  not  injured  merely,  but  entirely  lost. 
Even  w^iere  the  signification  of  words  is  given  pro- 
perl}^,  the  transitive  and  connecting  particles  which 
show  the  relation  of  the  different  members  of  a 
thought,  have  secondary  meanings,  so  entirely  differ- 
ent from  those  of  the  corresponding  particles  in  Eng- 
lish, that  a  literal  version  is  often  nothing  better  than 
a  mere  travesty  of  the  original.  Take  St.  Paul  for 
an  example.  It  is  quite  impossible  for  a  mere  English 
reader  to  peruse  his  argumentative  epistles,  without 
feeling  tempted  to  suspect,  that  there  may  be  a  grain 
of  truth  in  the  profane  remark  of  Dr.  Priestly,  that 
his  premises  are  not  always  sound,  nor  his  conclusions 
logical.  His  reverence  for  inspiration,  will  not  allow 
him  to  say  so  in  express  w^ords.  But  if  asked  the 
question,  he  will  acknowledge  his  great  surprise  at 
the  little  profit  which  he  receives,  from  the  decidedly 
most  intellectual  writer  of  the  Christian  school. 

Now  where  in  this  doubt  and  darkness  shall  the 
interpreter  go  ?  To  expositors  ?  But  expositors  often 
differ  ;  and  who  shall  decide  w4ien  doctors  disagree  ? 
The  value  of  this  class  of  authors  to  the  unlearned 
reader,  and  to  the  learned  also,  if  properly  used,  we 
are  far  from  denying.     But  not  one  is  to.  be  absolutely 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

trusted.  To  none,  does  the  remark  of  Mr.  Locke 
that  "  every  man  has  a  secret  flaw  in  his  cranium, 
producing  some  extravagancy  in  opinion  or  action, 
which  in  that  particular  renders  him  fitter  for  Bedlam 
than  ordinary  conversation,"  apply  with  more  force 
than  to  commentators.  The  best  has  not  only  faults, 
but  frequently  under  the  influence  of  sectarian  bias  or 
mental  idiosyncracy,  fall  into  perfect  absurdity.  He 
only  therefore  uses  them  with  safety,  who  can  com- 
pare them  together,  and  exercise  an  eclectic  judgment 
of  his  own.  Pitiable,  most  pitiable,  is  the  condition  of 
that  professed  teacher  of  Christianity,  the  only  source 
of  illumination  to  whose  darkened  mind,  are  the  con- 
tradictory opinions  of  men — who  has  not  the  shadow 
of  a  reason  for  his  preference  of  one  above  another, 
except  that  it  is  more  agreeable  to  the  Shibboleth  of 
his  sect ! 

Can  a  creature  thus  lame,  blind,  and  shackled,  the 
passive  recipient  of  whatever  the  adopted  lord  of  his 
understanding  and  conscience  may  choose  to  impose 
upon  him,  be  called  an  authoritative  (we  grant  the 
''authorized")  expounder  of  divine  truth  ?  Impossi- 
ble !  and  no  one  is  more  fully  convinced  of  it  than 
the  man  himself.  He  may  not  run  to  the  house-top 
and  proclaim  it :  for  this  would  greatly  lower  his 
estimation  with  the  people,  and  probably  something 
else.  He  may  even  join  in  the  senseless  clamor  against 
a  learned  ministry.  But  he  feels  nevertheless^  that  he 
labors  under  a  dreadful  incompetency^  that  he  is  a 


T8  INTRODUCTION. 

blind  leader  of  the  blind,  right  only  by  chance,  and 
without  even  enjoying  the  happiness  of  knowing  it ; 
that  the  noblest  part  of  him,  his  understanding,  is 
prostrate  before  a  miserable  creature  as  blind  perhaps 
as  himself,  whom  he  often  suspects,  but  always  fol- 
lows— with  the  servility  of  a  dog,  not  daring  to  move 
a  hand -breadth  from  his  track.  In  a  word,  he  cannot 
help  despising  himself,  and  takes  refuge  probabl}^  from 
the  shame  of  his  own  -thoughts,  in  the  entire  neglect 
of  scriptural  inquiries — limiting  his  ambition  to  ring- 
ing peals  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath,  on  a  few  topics  of 
general  exhortation ! 

These  remarks  may  be  thought  more  applicable  to 
those  already  in  the  sacred  office,  than  persons  who 
are  in  a  course  of  preparation.  But  it  is  not  so. 
Though  the  evil  is  developed  in  the  ministry,  its  birth- 
place and  cradle  are  our  seminaries  of  learning.  Here, 
those  habits  are  formed  both  for  good  and  evil,  which 
mould  the  character  beyond  the  reach  of  change,  ex- 
cept by  the  sovereign  grace  of  God.  We  fear  that 
they  are  often  formed  badly  :  and  that  many  of  our 
young  candidates  for  the  ministry  need  the  application 
of  a  little  stimulus  to  their  reason  and  conscience. 

The  general  sincerity  of  their  purpose  to  serve  God 
faithfully  in  the  Gospel  of  his  Son,  we  do  not  intend 
here  to  question.  But  that  they  are  far  fiom  being 
awake  to  the  necessity  of  vigorous  and  untiring  effort, 
in  making  biblical  preparation  for  their  work,  is  too 
evident.     They   entered    the   Theological    seminary, 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

perhaps,  full  of  life  and  ardor.  But  alas  !  in  one 
short  month,  a  chilling  frost  came  over  them,  nippinor 
the  tender  huds  of  promise,  and  infusing  a  deadly  tor- 
por through  all  their  faculties.  They  became  fatigued 
— alarmed — and  *are  evidently  disappointed  men. 
They  seem  to  have  expected,  that  after  passing 
til  rough  the  strait  gate  of  conversion,  they  should 
be  put  on  a  road  strewed  with  flowers,  bordered  with 
groves  of  citron — and  couches  of  ease  at  every  turn, 
inviting  the  traveller  to  sweet  repose.  'Tis  hard,  they 
think — passing  hard,  that  gentlemen  of  talent  and 
piety,  so  devoted  to  the  great  work  of  converting  sin- 
ners, that  if  the  church  permitted  it,  they  would  gladly 
mount  the  pulpit  at  once,  should  be  treated  almost  as 
harshly  as  a  galley-slave  at  the  oar ;  condemned  to 
disinter  a  thousand  Hebrew  roots,  analyze  a  legion  of 
Hellenistic  idioms,  pore  ov^er  Latin,  Greek,  Oriental 
Antiquities  ;  and  be  told  that  when  all  this  is  accom- 
plished, preparation  for  their  work  may  be  considered 
fairly  begun ! 

The  effect  of  such  reflections  is  apparent.  They 
have  become  listless,  inert,  melancholy.  Study  does 
not  agree  with  their  constitution ;  producing  dyspep- 
sia, palpitations  of  the  heart,  '•  incipient  bronchitis." 
and  a  determination  of  blood  to  the  head.  A  hundred 
times  in  the  day  they  exclaim,  what  a  weariness  is  it ! 
and  gladly  seek  relief  in  dull  vacuity  of  thought,  idle 
miscellaneous  reading,  or  talking  pretty  nothings  in 
a  lady's    parlor.      Perhaps  to    make  time    pass    less 


120  INTRODUCTIOK'- 

heavily,  they  offer  their  preaching-  services  to  a  neigh- 
boring prayer-meeting,  where  the  plaudits  receiv^ed, 
give  precious  omen  of  more  extensive  triumphs,  an:l 
prove,  that  genius  hke  theirs,  may  safely  despise  the 
uncouth  adornments  of  Greek  and  Hebrew.  Many 
of  them  deem  the  irksome  season  of  probation,  an 
admirable  time  for  securing  that  best  of  earthly  bless- 
ings— a  good  wife  :  and  thus,  a  business  in  which 
the  wisest  man  is  apt  to  play  the  fool,  they  contrive  to 
despatch,  at  the  period  when  every  faculty,  every 
affection  of  their  being,  should  be  engrossed  by  the 
one  great  object  which  has  received  their  consecra- 
tion !  This  impatience  of  lai)or,  this  morbid  desire  to 
engage  in  an  enterprise  without  submitting  to  w^iole- 
some  preparatory  discipline,  this  voluptuous  effeminacy 
of  character,  is  a  blight  and  a  curse  on  all  our  semi- 
naries of  learning.  " 

All,  are  not  thus.  We  attest  it  with  pleasure,  and 
even  fully  believe,  that  could  a  census  be  taken,   the 

*  Yet  the  evil  is  attributable  far  more  to  our  literary  institutions, 
than  to  the  young  men  themselves.  The  truth  is.  they  have  had 
no  opportunity  of  obtaining  suitable  preparation,  or  forming  proper 
habits :  We  speak  at  present  of  the  study  of  languages.  They  are 
sent  to  schools,  whose  reputation  has  been  established  by  the 
magical  rapidity  with  which  they  turn  out  finished  scholars  to  the 
various  colleges  in  their  neighborhood;  and  wlien  in  college,  they 
admirably  succeed  in  losing  the  scanty  modicum  which  tliey 
acquired  in  school.  The  writer  has  heard  scores  of  ingenuous  youth 
confess  with  bitter  regret,  that  their  whole  course  in  Alma  Mater 
was  a  regular  business  of  forgetting  the  little  Greek  they  had  pre- 
viously acquired. 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

class  described  above,  would  be  found  in  a  decided 
minority.  There  are  many,  however,  who  cherish  an 
honest  wish  and  purpose  to  do  their  duty,  yet  are  not 
a  httle  daunted  by  the  prospect  before  them.  It  seems 
to  stretch  out  into  immensity  !  Is  adequate  prepara- 
tion, they  ask,  feasible  ?  Are  they  capable  of  attain- 
ing by  conscientious  exertion,  such  a  real  acquaintance 
with  the  languages  and  literature  of  Scripture,  that  on 
their  entering  the  ministry  and  applying  to  the  work 
of  exposition,  the  painful  thought  will  not  obtrude,  that 
they  have  been  laboring  to  no  valuable  purpose? 
Assuming,  that  those  who  put  the  question,  commence 
their  theological  course,  possessing  that  amount  of 
learning-  which  ou^^ht  to  be  obtained  in  a  literary  col- 
lege,  we  answer,  Yes  '  With  the  ordinary  blessing  of 
Him,  whose  you  are,  and  whom  you  serve,  it  depends 
entirely  on  yourselves.  We  do  not  affect  to  conceal 
the  difficulties  which  are  in  the  way.  The  elementary 
exercises  of  learning  the  grammar  and  vocabulary  of 
a  strange  language,  of  impressing  on  the  memory  the 
genders,  cases,  and  other  accidents  of  nouns,  of  hunt- 
ing verbs  through  all  the  mazes  of  conjugation,  we  ad- 
mit, were  not  exactly  the  form,  in  which  Satan  pre- 
sented the  temptation  to  aspire  after  knowledge  in 
Paradise.  But  what  then  ?  Would  you  expect 
young  men  to  be  placed  above  the  universal  law  of 
heaven,  that  every  thing  truly  valuable,  is  purchased 
by  strenuous  exertion  ? 

Far  however  be  the  thought,  that  Preparation  is  in 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

all  its  stages  a  painful  drudgery.  Only  let  the  student 
sit  down,  and  make  a  fair  trial :  he  will  be  astonished 
to  find  how  soon  light  rises  out  of  darkness,  and  the 
impediments  w^iich  seemed  insurmountable  disappear, 
until  his  path  beconies  agreeable,  and  even  delightful. 
The  forms  of  words,  with  their  significations,  gradual- 
ly rivet  themselves  in  his  memory,  so  that  he  can 
recall  them  with  ease  and  pleasure.  His  dictionary 
enjoys  longer  intervals  of  rest ;  the  beauties  of  thought 
and  expression  begin  to  show  themselves,  like  modest 
daisies  in  spring — and  what  a  blessed  rapture  pours 
its  tide  through  his  soul,  when  he  discovers  that  he  can 
draw  the  water  of  salvation  directly  from  the  limpid  foun- 
tain, and  with  his  ow^n  hand  pluck  the  heahng  leaves 
from  the  tree  of  life  !  Then  his  work  goes  on  pleas- 
antly indeed !  A  field  of  delightful  employment 
stretches  before  him — a  garden  of  the  Lord,  lovelier 
than  Eden  ever  was,  which  he  cultivates  without  pain, 
whose  fruit  he  gathers  without  fatigue,  while  the  God 
who  placed  him  there,  w^alks  amid  the  fohage,  and  con- 
verses with  him  face  to  face. 

This  is  no  fancy  sketch.  Those  who  have  gone 
through  the  process,  will  certify  to  the  truth  of  every 
word,  and  say  that  after  a  certain  stage  of  progress, 
the  critical  reading  of  Holy  Scripture  became  one  of 
the  most  pleasant  occupations  of  their  life.  Witness 
the  beautiful  recital  of  the  learned  and  pious  Bishop 
Home  of  his  state  of  mind,  while  preparing  his  Com- 
mentary on  the  Psalms. — "Could    the  author  flatter 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


himself,"  he  says  "that  any  one  would  take  half  the 
pleasure  in  reading  the  following  exposition,  which  he 
has  taken  in  writing  it,  he  would  not  fear  the  loss  of 
his  labor.  The  employment  detached  him  from  the 
bustle  and  hurry  of  life,  tbe  din  of  politics,  and  noise 
of  folly.  Vanity  and  vexation  flew  away  for  a  season, 
care  and  disquietude  came  not  near  his  dwelling.  He 
arose  fresh  as  the  morning  to  his  task,  the  silence  of 
night  invited  him  to  pursue  it,  and  he  can  truly  say 
that  food  and  rest  were  not  preferred  before  it.  Hap- 
pier hours  than  those  which  have  been  spent  on  these 
meditations  on  the  songs  of  Zion,  he  never  expects  to 
see  in  this  world.  Very  pleasantly  did  they  pass,  and 
moved  smoothly  and  swiftly  along :  for  when  thus  en- 
gaged he  counted  no  time.  They  are  gone,  but  have 
left  a  relish  and  fragrance  on  the  mind,  and  the  re- 
membrance of  them  is  sweet."  Will  you  not  feel  en- 
couraged, young  friends  and  brethren,  by  this  expe- 
rience of  the  venerable  bishop,  to  enter  on  your  work 
like  men  ?  Away  with  despondency  and  forebodings 
of  defeat.  Away  with  that  ingenuity,  which,  bribed 
by  indolence,  sees  monsters  and  lions  in  the  way. 
Listen  not  to  those  evil  spies,  those  lazy,  worthless 
cowards,  who  would  tell  you  that  the  good  land  which 
flows  with  milk  and  honey,  is  beset  with  giants,  sons 
of  Anak ;  that  the  Amalekites  dwell  in  the  south, 
Hittites,  Jebusites,  and  Amorites,  in  the  mountains, 
tbe  Canaanites  by  the  sea ;  and  that  you  cannot  go 
against  this  people !     Hear  them  not,  but  say   in  the 


24 


NTRODUCTION. 


Strength  of  the  Lord,  and  your  own  firm  purpose.  "  Let 
us  go  up  to  possess  it,  for  we  are  fully  able  to  over- 
come them."  You  will  not  be  uttering  a  vain  boast. 
Victory  is  certain,  and  when  it  comes,  you  w^ill  be  more 
than  recompensed  for  all  your  toils. 

Pardon  us,  if  we  dwell  a  moment  longer  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  remind  you  what  the  recompense  will  be. 
Are  you  anxious  that  one  day  you  may  cover  w^itli 
confusion  the  bold  infidel,  who  defies  the  armies  of  the 
living  God,  and  by  calm  convincing  demonstrations, 
which  shall  come  home  to  the  honest  understandings 
of  men,  show  the  groundlessness  of  his  objections? 
This,  you  will  be  able  to  do,  by  displaying  the  truth, 
beauty  and  moral  dignity  of  that  blessed  volume 
against  which  his  violence  is  directed — in  order  to 
which,  you  77iust  have  studied  it.  Without  study, 
you  will  scarcely  be  able  to  avert  the  baneful  influence 
of  scepticism  from  your  own  soul,  much  less  build  your 
hearers  on  their  most  holy  faith.  Do  you  wish  to  be- 
come vivid,  interesting,  various  preachers,  who  make 
their  hearers  feel  the  commanding  energy  of  truth, 
and  whom  they  never  tire  of  hearing,  as  every  sermon 
brings  forth  new  evidences  of  apostleship  ?  Study  your 
Bible  !  There,  you  will  find  inexhaustible  resources  of 
pleasing,  impressing,  profiting.  Prepare  yourselves  for 
expounding  the  word  of  God.  from  Sabbath  to  Sabbath. 
Prepare  yourselves  for  bringing  before  the  people, 
Moses  and  the  Prophets,  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  to 
unfold  its  instructive   histories,  analyze  its  charming 


INTRODUCTION.  25 

parables,  disentangle  and  develop  its  sublime  reason- 
ings. If  such  be  the  character  of  your  exhibitions,  we 
venture  to  promise  you  immunity  against  one  sore  evil 
under  the  sun — that  of  being  waited  on  by  a  church 
session  or  consistory,  in  the  second  year  of  your 
labors,  and  affectionately  informed,  that  there  is  no 
farther  call  for  your  services. 

Do  you  wish  to  be  eminently  successful  in  winning 
souls  to  Christ?  Study  the  Book.  This,  is  the  two- 
edged  sword,  that  pierces  to  the  dividing  asunder  of 
soul  and  spirit,  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  discerner 
of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.  Machinery 
has  been  invented,  which,  worked  by  skilful  hands, 
can  furnish  to  order  a  greater  number  of  nominal 
converts,  manufactured  in  a  given  period;  but  "  the 
truth"  alone,  makes  children  of  God  and  heirs  of  im- 
mortality ! 

Have  you  regard  to  personal  comfort  and  enjoy- 
ment? What  an  inexhaustible  source  of  amusement 
— yes,  amusement,  high  and  holy  as  that  of  angels, 
will  you  possess,  when  you  have  acquired  the  taste, 
skill,  and  habit,  of  reading  in  its  originals,  the  holy 
Word.  To  this  mount  you  will  be  able  to  retire  at 
any  moment,  like  the  pious  Home,  from  the  cares  and 
turmoils  of  life,  and  see  more  than  the  three  disciples 
saw,  on  the  hallowed  summit  of  Tabor.  When 
afflicted  and  almost  repining  at  the  ways  of  Heaven^ 
let  your  old  Hebrew  Bible  introduce  you  to  the  bed- 
side of  venerable  Job,  with  whom  and  his  friends,  you 


26 


INTRODUCTION. 


may  speculate  on  the  mysteries  of  Providence,  until 
convicted  of  your  folly,  you  join  with  him  in  his  hum- 
ble acknowledgment,  '•  I  have  uttered  what  I  under- 
stood not,  things  too  wonderful  which  I  knew  not  !" 
Are  you  suffering  under  hypochondriac  depression? 
you  may  order  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel  to  strike  his 
lyre :  If  its  music  does  not  expel  the  evil  spirit,  as  it 
did  from  Saul,  your  case  is  indeed  melancholy. 

But  the  study  we  recommend,  will  be  far  more 
than  an  occasional  solace.  The  preparation  of  a 
series  of  expository  remarks  on  an  important  portion 
of  Scripture,  which  he  knows  his  people  look  for  on 
the  ensuing  Sabbath,  furnishes  to  a  pastor  a  delightful 
regular  employment,  that  rouses  the  facukies,  gives 
elasticity  to  every  muscle,  fillips  the  blood,  and  is 
more  conducive  to  health  than  all  the  medicine  of  the 
dispensatory.  We  are  not  ignorant,  that  mental  appli- 
cation is  considered  by  many  unfavorable  to  a  good 
condition  of  the  physical  system,  and  that  by  this  sup- 
posed fact,  they  explain  the  meagre  and  hectic  looks 
of  clergymen.  Nothing  is  more  absurd.  Look 
through  the  world,  and  you  will  find  no  class  of  men 
more  vigorous  and  long-lived  than  active  thinkers. 
The  truth  is,  clergymen  do  not  study  enough.  That 
they  sit  much,  and  are  more  sequestered  from  the  hinn 
and  tumult  of  society  than  members  of  other  profes- 
sions, is  fully  granted.  But  sitting  is  not  studying^ 
nor  are  we  Avilhng  to  bestow  this  respectable  name  on 
the  mechanical  operation  of  transposing  a  iQw  stale 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

thoughts,  repeated  a  thousand  times,  on  certain  com- 
mon-places of  Didactic  Theology.  What  the  minis- 
try need,  is  an  employment  bringing  them  in  contact 
with  a  succession  of  new  as  well  as  interestinsr  ob- 
jects,  which  will  produce  an  agreeable  tension  of  the 
faculties,  never  wearying,  or  followed  by  reaction,  be- 
cause sustained  by  a  constant  and  pleasing  variety. 
Such,  you  will  find  to  be  the  regular  study  and  expo- 
sition of  sacred  Scripture.  It  will  do  thee  good  like  a 
medicine,  and  be  '•  marrow  to  thy  bones." 

In  view  of  all  these  motives,  we  pray  you,  as  a 
friend  and  brother,  as  one  who  every  day  looks  back 
with  regret  to  his  own  misimprovement  of  youthful 
privileges,  to  exert  untiring  diligence  in  biblical  pre- 
paration for  your  work.  S3^stems  of  human  concoc- 
tion have  their  use :  but  they  are  of  secondary  im- 
portance. As  such,  must  you  view  them.  You  must 
get  close  2ip  to  the  pure  crystal  fountain,  that  issues 
from  the  heavenly  throne.  There,  you  must  dwell; 
thence  must  you  draw,  for  your  own  souls,  and  the 
souls  of  those  committed  to  your  charge.  "Blessed  is 
the  servant,  who,  when  the  Master  comes,  shall  be 
found  so  doing." 


PART    I. 

GENUINENESS  AND  CANONICAL  AUTHORITY  OF 
THE  SCRIPTURES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF    THE    NEW    TESTAMENT. 

The  divine  Author  of  our  religion,  intending  that 
it  should  be  a  perpetual  blessing  to  the  human  race, 
among  other  provisions  for  accomplishing  his  purpose, 
took  care  that  it  should  be  committed  to  writinsr.  Had 
this  not  been  done,  ihe  most  fatal  consequences  would 
have  ensued.  It  is  absurd  to  suppose,  that  oral  tradi- 
tion could  preserve  so  great  a  number  of  doctrines 
and  facts  as  Christianity  is  made  up  of,  in  their  origi- 
nal integrity.  They  would  hav^e  been  lost,  or  dis- 
guised and  altered ;  and  nothing  but  an  interposition 
like  that  which  raised  Lazarus  from  the  grave,  would 
have  saved  our  holy  and  beautiful  temple  from  being 
utterly  desecrated,  and  perhaps  (as  the  Catholic  expe- 
riment has  proved)  made  the  cage  of  every  hateful 


30 


CANON    OF    THE 


and  unclean  bird.  It  was  therefore  essential,  that  the 
great  objects  of  faith  should  be  recorded  on  enduring 
tablets,  accessible  to  all  mankind.  The  scattered 
rays  of  truth  thus  became  collected  into  a  focus,  and 
religion  received  that  fixed  and  vmchangeable  char- 
acter, which  became  a  revelation  from  God. 

To  this,  and  this  alone,  it  owes  its  continued  exist- 
ence. It  survived  the  furious  assaults  of  Pagan 
Rome  ;  which  crushed  the  persons  of  its  disciples,  but 
w^as  utterly  foiled  in  the  attempt  to  exterminate  its 
writings.  The  volume  of  volumes  continued  to  cir- 
culate. It  entered  the  hovel  and  the  palace,  it  stole 
into  the  camp,  it  might  be  found  stowed  away  under 
the  senatorial  robe  ;  and  history  tells  us,  that  long 
before  the  time  of  Constantine — while  Paganism  sat 
enthroned  without  even  thinking  of  a  rival,  it  had 
forced  its  wa3Mnto  the  imperial  palace.  It  is  this,  too, 
which  gives  our  religion  that  wonderful  power  of 
reproduction^  by  which  it  can  emerge  to  light  and  lib- 
eity,  after  ages  of  declension.  When  the  might}?- 
man  of  Wirtemberg,  with  his  friends  and  coadjutors, 
undertook  to  purify  the  church  from  those  corruptions, 
which  she  had  suffered  so  long,  that  the  knowledge  of 
a  better  slate  had  passed  away  from  the  memory  of 
man — all  necessary  to  be  done,  was  the  emancipation 
of  the  written  word.  The  moment  an  appeal  was 
made  to  its  decisions,  and  men  learned  to  compare 
them  with  the  sad  realities  that  surrounded  them — 
Popery  received  a  wound,  which,  though  not  imme- 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  31 

diately  fatal,  doomed  it  to  a  lingering  decay,  and  cer- 
tain death;  when  the  purposes  of  God  shall  be  com- 
pleted. 

It^is  called  by  various  names ;  which  we  pass  over, 
to  consider  that  which  more  immediately  concerns  the 
present  discussion. 


The  word  ••  Canon,"  is  derived  from  the  Greek  xavuiv, 
— which  properly  denotes  the  beam  of  a  balance,  and 
also  a  rule  by  which  anything  is  tried  and  determin- 
ed. At  an  early  period,  it  was  employed  to  signify  a 
catalogue  of  articles  belonging  to  the  church;  all 
questions  of  property  being  decided  by  an  appeal  to 
such  catalogues.  Soon,  it  became  yet  more  restricted 
in  its  meaning  ;  being  applied  almost  exclusively,  to 
a  publicly  approved  catalogue  of  the  books  which 
were  received  by  Christians,  as  the  productions  of 
inspired  men.  "  They  fallinto  great  absurdities,"  says 
Chrysostom,  ••  who  will  not  follow  the  Canon  of  Scrip- 
ture, but  trust  to  their  own  reasoning."  "  Only  in  the 
Canonical  writings,"  says  Athanasius,  "  is  the  instruc- 
tion which  blesses  imparted  ;  they  only  are  the  foun- 
tains of  saving  knowledge.'' 

It  will  be  proper  to  define,  with  a  little  more  preci- 
sion, the  ideas  attached  by  the  Christian  Fathers  to 
this  word,  and  the  kind  of  writing  to  which  it  was 
applied^ 


32 


CANON    OF    THE 


III  tlie  fiisl  place,  they  required  that  a  book  be  the 
production  of  an  Apostle,  or  ApostoUc  man.  To  Ap- 
ostles only,  did  our  Lord  promise  the  Spirit  of  revela- 
tion. As  to  Mark  and  Luke,  who  were  not  of  the 
number — the  former  was  the  kinsman  and  pupil  of 
Peter,  who  communicated  all  the  facts  recorded  in  his 
Gospel.  Luke  was  the  friend  and  associate  of  Paul, 
who  exercised  over  him  an  inspection  like  that  which 
Peter  exercised  over  Mark.  They  were  therefore 
from  the  earliest  period  recognized  as  men  "  apostoli- 
cal,"  and  their  works  universally  received  as  part  of 
the  Canon. 

The  second  distinction  of  a  canonical  bookj  was  its 
being  publicly  read  in  the  assembhes  of  the  faithful. 
This  was  done  in  imitation  of  the  Jews;  whose  syna- 
gogue worship  mainly  consisted  in  reciting  portions  of 
their  Scriptures,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  "  Par- 
aschoth"  and  "  Haphtaroth."  The  meanest  Christian, 
thus  became  acquainted  with  the  great  truths  of  his 
relio'ion.  The  names  and  number  of  the  books,  be- 
came as  familar  to  all,  as  the  names  and  number  of 
the  members  of  their  families,  and  the  strongest  safe- 
guard that  can  be  imagined,  was  provided  against  un- 
authentic productions.  Indeed  it  seemed  hardly 
possible  under  such  circumstances,  to  impose  a 
spurious  composition. 

The  third  peculiarity  of  these  writings,  was  their 
hinding  authority  as  a  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
This  followed  from  the  first,  by  necessary  consequence  : 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  33 

For  if  they  were  truly  the  productions  of  men  to  whom 
Christ  had  promised  the  inspiring  Spirit,  they  could 
not  but  express  the  will  of  the  divine  Being,  without 
any  mixture  of  error.  Accordingly,  they  were  univer- 
sally appealed  to  as  the  fountains  of  all  saving  truth. 
"  Our  assertions  and  discourses,"  says  Origen,  "  are 
unworthy  of  credit.  We  must  receive  the  Scripture  as 
witnesses."  "In  all  doubtful  cases,"  says  Cyprian, 
"  we  must  go  to  the  fountain.  If  tiae  truth  has  in  any 
way  been  shaken,  recur  to  the  Gospels,  and  apostolic 
writings."  Even  the  Arians  appealed  to  this  touch- 
stone ;  arguing  against  the  phrases  used  by  the  Ortho- 
dox concerning  the  Trinity,  that  they  were  not  in  the 
Scriptures  :  and  one  of  them  thus  addresses  St.  Augus- 
tine :  ''  If  you  say  what  is  reasonable,  I  must  submit. 
If  you  allege  anything  from  the  divine  Scripture,  I 
must  hear — but  unscriptural  expressions  deserve  no 
regard." 

These,  are  the  ideas  comprehended  in  the  word 
Canon,  or  Canonical  writing ;  the  first  of  which,  is 
doubtless  the  primary  and  fundamental  one.  Let  the 
fact  be  established,  tliat  the  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment proceeded  from  inspired  and  apostolic  men,  and  it 
is  explained  at  once,  why  they  were  publicly  read  in  the 
churches,  and  regarded  as  the  infallible  rule  of  faith 
and  practice. 


34  CANON    OF    THE 


STATEMENT    OF    THE    QUESTION. 

These  pieliminaiies  being  settled — the  question 
fairly  presents  itself:  Have  ive  solid  grounds  for  he- 
lieving^  that  our  books,  as  found  iii  the  common 
English  Testament,  were  loritten  and  2)ublished  to 
the  loorld  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  hy  the  vene- 
rated founders  of  Christianity  to  whom  they  are 
ascribed  ;  or  were  they  fabricated  at  a  later  period,  by 
some  artful  impostor  ?  We  assert  the  first  position  ; 
and  deny  the  second.  We  say,  that  there  is  an  un- 
broken chain  of  evidence,  commencing  with  contem- 
porary writers,  and  extending  to  the  present  time — 
writers,  who  enjoyed  every  opportunity  of  knowing  the 
truth,  and  whose  character  for  veracity  is  unimpeach- 
able, that  our  volume  is  the  work  of  nine  primitive 
disciples  of  Christ,  and  has  been  always  received  as 
the  complete  exponent  of  his  system,  whose  decisions 
are  final  on  every  point. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  to  the  statement,  and 
yet  it  may  prevent  some  confusion  of  ideas,  that  our 
inquiry  does  not  regard  immediately  the  credibility 
of  the  document,  or  its  divine  inspiration.  The  per- 
sons whom  we  address,  are  assumed  to  be — not 
infidels — but  young  Christian  disciples  ;  who,  entering 
on  the  study  of  a  volume  which  professes  to  contain 
the  principles  of  their  faith,  are  desirous  of  knowing 
the  grounds  on  which  it  rests  its  claim — of  knowing,  for 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  35 

instance,  where  it  came  from,  by  whom  it  was  received, 
and  at  how  early  a  period.  Whether  Christianity  in 
its  essential  principles — viewed  as  a  power,  or  germ  of 
a  new  moral  life,  came  from  God,  we  suppose  to  be  set- 
tled ;  and  now  the  question  comes  up.  which  we  de- 
sire to  aid  them  in  answering",  whether  there  is  any- 
thing in  the  parentage  of  this  little  volume,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  has  been  received  and  treated  in 
all  ages,  which  entitles  it  to  address  belieyers  in  the 
system,  with  commanding  authority  as  its  interpreter. 
In  a  word,  our  argument  goes  to  show,  that  if  they 
acknowledge  the  divine  mission  of  Jesus — thiSj  is 
their  hook. 

The  evidence,  divides  itself  into — the  testimony  of 
Christians  themselves,  or,  as  some  choose  to  express 
themselves,  the  "Church;"  which  must  be  supposed 
to  know  with  perfect  accuracy,  what  she  received,  from 
whom,  and  at  what  period  :  that  of  heretics,  and  Pa- 
gan infidels  :  and  the  internal  marks  of  genuineness, 
so  wonderfully  striking,  that  were  the  books  draw^n 
from  the  bottom  of  a  river  and  exposed  to  view  for  the 
first  time,  a  cultivated  scholar  would  pronounce  them, 
confidently,  to  be  the  work  of  their  alleged  authors. 

It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  discuss  the  whole  of 
so  rich  a  subject,  in  the  few  pages  which  we  can  de- 
vote to  it.  All  proposed,  therefore,  is  to  furnish  the 
reader  with  some  useful  information  on  the  first,  and 
principal  topic,  viz.,  the  early  and  continued  attestation 
of  the  Christian  Church.     The  omission,  however,  can 


36  CANON    OF    THE 

be  justified  only  by  the  necessity  referred  to ;  for  the 
testimony  of  heretics  and  infidels  is  exceedingly  valu- 
able. Beside  the  concessions  of  Ebionites  and  Gnos- 
tics of  every  hue,  none  of  whom  with  all  their  fantastic 
mutilations,  denied  the  genuineness  of  the  writings, 
we  have  the  concessions  of  heathen  enemies,  as  bitter 
as  any  that  appeared  before  the  tribunal  of  Pilate — 
who,  while  they  denied  the  truth  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, fully  acknowledged  its  Apostolic  origin.  This 
precious  confession  runs  through  all  their  discourses,  and 
it  is  a  confession,  that  more  than  atones  for  the  mischief 
they  wrought.  It  has  changed  their  spiteful  calum- 
nies and  curses  into  positive  blessings,  so  that  our 
divine  religion,  which  commands  us  "  in  every  thing 
to  give  thanks,"  is  enabled  to  illustrate,  in  the  most  re- 
markable way,  its  own  precept — by  thanking  God  for 
a  Porphyry,  a  Julian,  and  a  Celsus.  The  internal 
evidence,  as  we  have  already  stated,  is  equally  over- 
whelming. No  volume  in  the  world,  of  the  same  age, 
has  half  so  much.  No  volume  can  advance  such 
proof  of  its  being  written  at  the  time  and  place  al- 
leged, and  by  the  men  whose  name  it  bears — from  its 
peculiar  language,  style,  and  mode  of  thinking  on 
every  subject ;  the  minute  circumstantiality  of  its  nar- 
ratives ;  the  accuracy  of  its  political,  geographical,  and 
historical  references  ;  the  air  of  truth,  and  reality  that 
pervades  it ;  and  the  numberless  fine  coincidences  be- 
tween its  diflferent  and  most  widely  separated  parts — ^ 
all  found,  on  careful  examination,  to  be  in  perfect  har- 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  37 

mony  with  each  other,  and  yet,  such,  as  would  never 
be  thought  of  by  a  forger,  though  Satan  himself  were 
at  his  elbow.  In  short,  it  is  inimitable — resembling 
that  fine,  delicately-tinted  paper,  used  for  certain  pur- 
poses, which  is  of  such  exquisite  texture,  that  no  skill, 
even  of  the  manufacturer  himself  can  produce  the  like; 
and  the  genuineness  of  which,  the  practiced  eye  can 
perceive  at  once,  by  simply  holding  it  up  to  the  sun. 

These,  with  their  kindred  topics,  we  wave  for  the 
reason  mentioned,  and  proceed  to  our  main  object; 
premising,  that  nothing  more  must  be  looked  for,  than 
a  meager  specimen  of  the  evidence.  The  quotations 
are  extracted  from  the  immense  collection  of  the 
learned  and  accurate  Lardner,  with  a  few  additions 
from  his  German  continuators. 


&c. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  follow  the  subject  below  the  fourth  century, 
as  the  existence  of  our  Canon  at  that  time  is  perfectly  established 
and  indisputable.  In  stating  the  evidence,  we  take  our  position  in 
the  fourth  century,  and  ascend  to  the  1st,  herein  differing  from  Dr. 
L. ;  because  it  is  more  natural  to  proceed  from  what  is  certain  to 
what  is  obscure,  than  in  a  contrary  direction.     The  notices  of  the 

*  There  is  a  fact  relative  to  the  Canon,  which  readers  should  Be  acquainted 
with,  before  they  enter  on  the  examination  of  witnesses,  that  they  may  not  expe- 
rience a  disagieeable  shock.  From  very  early  times,  a  marked  distinction  was 
made  in  the  Christian  Church,  between  those  books  which  were  universally 
received  as  genuine,  and  others  on  which  opinion  was  divided  ;  in  consequence  of 
their  wanting  the  clear,  commanding  evidence,  possessed  by  the  former.  They 
were  not  proscribed,  nor  positively  branded  with  the  name  oi  Apocrypha,  but  their 


38 


CANON    OF    THE 


very  early  (Apostolical)  fathers  are  so  imperfect,  that  they  would 
make  little  impression  by  themselves;  but  when  the  light  of  the 
following  ages  is  reflected  on  them,  they  become  a  highly  satisfac- 
tory part  of  the  evidence. 

IV.  CENTURY. 

COUNCIL  OF  NICE,   A.   D.  325. 

This  famous  Assembly  is  introduced  here,  not  to  give  its  tes- 
timony, but  to  acknowledge  that  it  has  none  to  give.  The  notion 
that  the  Nicene  Synod  fixed  the  Canon  of  Scripture  or  in  any  way 
contributed  to  it  by  its  deliberations  and  acts,  is  a  pure  fiction  which 
has- found  favor  with  some,  because  it  seemed  to  countenance  their 
theory,  that  we  have  received  the  Canon  of  Scripture  fi*om  the 
Church;  and  which  infidels  in  their  turn  have  seized  upon  to 
bolster  up  their  favorite  maxim,  that  our  present  catalogue  is  not 
the  work  of  candid  investigation,  but  ecclesiastical  enactment. 

There  is  not  the  least  reason  to  believe  that  the  subject  ever 
came  before  the  Council;  most  certainly,  it  was  never  acted  on. 
The  universal  reception  of  certain  books  and  exclusion  of  others, 
was  the  result  of  honest  conviction,  founded  on  a  careful  exami- 
nation of  what  had  been  handed  down  from  the  wise  of  former 
times.     Their  genuineness  was  regarded  as  a  historical  fact,  to  be 


claim  was  doubted,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  rarely  quoted  by  the  more 
ancient  Fathers.  The  following  books  belong  to  this  class :  The  epistles  of  James, 
and  Jude,  the  2d  of  Peter,  the  2d  and  3d  of  John,  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and 
Revelation.  They  were  called  the  "Controverted"  books  {avTiXtyoneva),  the 
others  being  styled  the  "  universally  acknowledged  "  (o^oXoyoD^f  i^a).  That  the 
hesitation  felt  concerning  them  was  without  solid  reasons,  seems  probable  from  the 
fact  that  it  ga^•t  way  to  a  thorough  investigation ;  as  no  trace  of  the  distinction,  is 
found  after  the  fourth  century.  That  it  should  exist  before  the  scrutiny,  was 
perfectly  natural,  and  proves  the  anxious  care  with  which  Christians  guarded  their 
sacred  catalogues  against  impiu-e  mixtures.  There  is  no  reason,  therefore,  why  wo 
should  feel  uncomfortable,  at  discovering  in  some  of  the  testimonies  quoted,  what 
otherwise  might  be  thought  and  called  a  "  hiatus  valde  deflendus."'  This  ver j 
hiatus,  silences  one  of  the  worst  calumnies  of  infidelity. 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  39 

proved  exactly  as  the  genuineness  of  utlier  tlocumenls  ;  and  su  they 
<lid  prove  it,  without  fear  of  Synods  and  Synodical  fuluiinations. 
The  fact,  that  a  majority  of  the  witnesses  were  of  the  clerical  order, 
is  a  mere  circumstance,  in  no  way  aftecting  the  nature  of  their  tes- 
timony. They  certify  the  universal  reception,  sinajdy  as  indivi- 
duals who  have  faithfully  examined  the  subject;  and  their  cer- 
tificate would  be  quite  as  valuable,  if  every  one  of  them  had  be- 
longed to  the  laity.  Doubtless  it  would  have  been  more  so,  as  the 
charge  could  not  be  made  in  this  case,  of  interested  motives  and 
combination. 

Those  persons  who  talk  of  our  receiving  the  Car-on  of  Scripture 
from  the  '-Church,"  in  some  mysterious  way,  as  if  the  genuineness 
could  not  or  ought  not  to  be  proved  in  the  same  manner  with  any 
other  fact  in  History,  seem  to  forget  very  strangely,  that  a  most 
important  part  of  the  evidence  is  furnished  by  heretics  and  heathen 
enemies, — by  men,  in  short,  whom  the  church  disowns  and  abhors. 
It  may  seem  paradoxical  to  some,  but  it  is  perfectly  true,  that  if  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  had  never  instituted  a  visible  community,  called 
a  "  church,"  on  the  earth,  but  had  left  his  religion  to  operate  by 
the  mere  force  of  its  principles  on  individual  minds,  the  evidence 
for  the  genuineness  and  apostolicity  of  the  New  Testament  would 
scarcely  be  e?i  the  least  affected  hy  it. 

No  less  than  ten  Catalogues  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
by  writers  of  this  age,  have  come  down  to  us ;  all  perfectly  agree- 
ing with  our  own,  except  that  a  few  omit  the  Hebrews  and  Re- 
velation. 

AUGUSTINE — FLOURISHED  A.  Vt.  395. 

After  enumerating  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  he  proceeds 
thus — '•'  Of  the  New,  there  are  the  four  books  of  the  gospel — accor- 
ding to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John ;  fourteen  epistles  of  the 
Aposfle  Paubto  the  Romans,  two  to  the  Corinthians,  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  Ephesians,  Phillipians,  two  to  the  Thessalonians,  to  the  Colos- 
sians,  two  to  Timothy,  to  Titus,  Philemon,  the  Hebrews;  two  epis- 
tles of  Peter,  three  of  John,   one  of  Jude,  and  one  of  James;  the 


40 


CANON    OF    THE 


Acts  of  the  Apostles  in  one  book  ;  and  the  Revelation  of  John  iu 
one  book.     In  these  books,  they  who  fear  God  seek  his  will." 

"  None  can  forbear  observing,"  says  Dr.  Lardner,  *•  how  clean  a 
catalogue  here  is  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament." 

ATHANASIUS,  A.  D.  326. 

"  The  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  these — the  four  Gospels 
according  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John.  Then  after  them  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  seven  epistles  of  the  Apostles,  called 
Catholic  ;  of  James,  one,  Peter,  two,  John,  three,  Jude,  one.  Be- 
sides these,  there  are  the  fourteen  epistles  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  the 
order  of  which  is  thus :  the  first,  to  the  Romans,  then,  two  to  the 
Corinthians,  that  to  the  Galatians,  the  next,  to  the  Ephesians,  then, 
to  the  Pliiliipians,  to  the  Colossians,  two  to  the  Thessaionians,  the 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  two  to  Timothy,  to  Titus  one,  the  last  to 
Philemon,  and  again  the  Revelation  of  John.  These  are  the  foun- 
tains of  salvation,  that  he  who  thirsts  may  be  satisfied  with  the 
oracles  contained  in  them:  in  these  alone,  the  doctrine  of  religion 
is  taught:  let  no  man  add  to  them  or  take  any  thing  from  them." 

In  his  writings,  he  quotes  all  our  books. 

JEROME,    A.   T>.   322. 

He  names  and  describes  all  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament. 
"  The  first  are  Matthew.  Mark,  Luke,  John,  the  chariot  of  the  Lord, 
and  the  true  cherubim,  who  go  wherever  the  spirit  leads  them. 
The  Apostle  Paul  writes  to  seven  churches  ;  for  the  eighth,  that 
of  the  Hebrews,  by  many  is  not  reckoned  among  them.  He  like- 
wise instructs  Timothy  and  Titus,  and  intercedes  with  Philemon  for 
a  runaway  servant.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  another  work  of 
Luke  the  Physician,  whose  praise  is  in  the  Gospel,  contain  the  his- 
tory of  the  infancy  of  the  church.  The  apostles  James,  Peter,  John, 
Jude,  write  seven  epistles,  of  few  words,  but  full  of  sense :  the 
Revelation  of  John  has  as  many  mysteries  as  words."  Jerome 
published  a  Latin  translation  of  the  New  Testament  containing 
precisely  our  books. 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  41 

EUSEBIUS,  A.   D. 315. 

"  It  will  be  proper  to  enumerate  here  in  a  summary  way,  the 
books  of  the  New  Testament  which  have  been  already  mentioned. 
And  in  the  first  place,  are  to  be  ranked  the  sacred  four  Gospels : 
then,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  :  after  that,  the  epistles  of  Paul.  In 
the  next  place,  that,  called  the  first  epistle  of  John  and  the  [first] 
epistle  of  Peter  are  to  be  esteemed  authentic.  After  these,  is  to 
be  placed,  if  it  be  thought  fit,  the  Revelation  of  John,  about  which 
we  shall  observe  the  different  opinions  at  a  proper  season.  Of  the 
controverted,  but  yet  well  known  or  approved  by  the  most,  are  that 
called  the  epistle  of  James,  and  that  of  Jude,  and  the  second  of 
Peter,  and  the  second  and  third  of  John  ;  whether  they  are  written 
by  the  evangelist,  or  another  of  the  same  name.  Among  the  spu- 
rious, are  to  be  placed  the  Acts  of  Paul,  and  the  book  entitled  the 
Shepherd,  and  the  Revelation  of  Peter :  and  besides  these  that  called 
the  epistle  of  Barnabas,  and  the  book  named  the  Doctrines  of  the 
Apostles.  And  moreover,  as  I  said,  the  Revelation  of  John,  if  it  seem 
meet,  which  some  reject,  others  reckon  among  the  books  universally 
received." 

There  is  some  obscurity  in  this  statement  which  has  given 
trouble  to  critics,  but  the  essential  facts  are  clearly  stated. 

III.  CENTURY. 

Two  formal  catalogues  have  come  down  to  us.  But  Dr.  Lardner 
quotes /or^y  writers  who  give  ample  testimony  to  our  present  Canon. 

CYPRIAN,    A.    D.   248. 

He  mentions  the  four  Gospels  by  the  names  of  their  authors,  com- 
paring them  "  to  the  four  rivers  of  Paradise."  By  them  the 
"  Church  is  watered,  and  her  plants  are  enabled  to  bear  fruit." 
Dr.  Lardner  extracts  from  him  at  length  quotations  from  Acts,  Rom. 
I.  and  II.  Cor.  Gal.  Eph.  Phil.  Col.  Thess.  Tim.  Tit.— in  ahort,— all 
Paul's  epistles  except  the  Hebrews.  He  also  quotes  1st  Peter  and 
1st  John,  and  the  Revelation  often.  There  is  not  in  Cyprian  one 
quotation  from  any  apocryphal  writer. 

2* 


42  CANON    OF    THE 

VICTORINUS,  A,  T>.  290. 

lu  his  commentai-y  on  the  Revelation,  he  speaks  of  the  four  Gos- 
pels thus — "  The  four  living  creatures  (Rev.  iv.  6,)  are  the  four 
Gospels.  These  living  creatures  have  different  faces,  which 
have  a  meaning;  for  the  living  creature  like  a  lion,  denotes 
Mark,  in  whom  the  voice  of  a  lion  roaring  in  the  wilderness  is 
heard:  "  A  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness.  Prepare  ye  the  way  of 
the  Lord."  Matthew,  who  has  the  resemblance  of  a  man,  show  sthe 
family  of  Mary,  from  whom  Christ  took  flesh.  Luke,  who  relates 
the  priesthood  of  Zacharias  offering  sacrifice  for  the  people,  because 
of  the  priesthood  and  the  mention  of  the  sacrifice,  has  the  resem- 
blance of  a  calf.  The  evangelist  John,  like  an  eagle  with  stretched- 
out  wings  mounting  on  high,  speaks  the  Word  of  God.' 

Dr.  Lardner  shows,  that  he  must  have  read  all  Paul's  epistles 
except  the  Hebrews,  of  which  he  makes  no  mention.  On  the 
Revelation,  he  wrote  a  Coynmentary. 

ORIGEN,  A.  D.  230. 
"  As  I  have  learned  by  tradition  concerning  the  four  Gospels, 
which  alone  are  received  xoithout  dispute  by  the  whole  church  of  God 
under  heaven.  The  first  was  written  by  Matthew,  once  a  pub- 
lican, afterwards  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  The  second  is  that 
according  to  Mark,  who  wrote  it  as  Peter  dictated  it  to  him.  The 
third  is  that  according  to  Luke,  published  for  the  sake  of  the  Gen- 
tile converts.  Lastly,  that  according  to  John.  Paul  did  not  write 
to  all  the  churches  he  had  taught ;  and  to  those,  to  which  he  did 
write,  he  sent  only  a  few  lines.  Peter  has  left  one  epistle  [univer- 
sally] acknowledged.  But  let  it  be  granted  likewise  that  he  wrote 
a  second;  for  it  is  doubted  of.  But  what  need  I  speak  of  John, 
who  leaned  upon  the  breast  of  Jesus,  who  has  left  us  one  Gospel. 
He  wrote  also  the  Revelation.  He  has  also  left  an  epistle  of  a  very 
few  lines.  Grant  also  a  second  and  a  third ;  for  all  do  not  allow 
these  to  be  genuine." 

In  another  place  he  speaks  thus :  "  Matthew  sounds  first  with 
his  priestly  trumpet  in  his  gospel ;  Mark  also,  and  Luke,  and  John, 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  43 

souuded  with  their  priestly  trumpets.  Peter  likewise  sounds  aloud 
with  the  two  trumpets  of  his  epistles;  James  also,  and  Jude.  And 
Johu  sounds  again  with  his  trumpet  in  his  epistles,  and  the  Reve- 
lation; and  Luke  also  once  more  relating  the  actions  of  the  apostles. 
Last  of  all  comes  Paul,  and  sounding  with  the  trumpets  of  his  four- 
teen epistles,  he  threw  down  to  the  foundations  the  walls  of  Jericho, 
and  all  the  engines  of  idolatry;  and  the  schemes  of  the  phi- 
losophers." 

Origeu's  quotations  from  the  New  Testament  are  so  numerous 
that  they  form  a  volume. 


AN    UNKNOWN  WRITER    QUOTED   BY    MURATORI  IN   HIS    "ITALIC    ANTI- 
QUITIES."  205'. 

Who  he  was,  is  unknown.  Many  suppose  him  to  be  Caius,  a 
distinguished  writer  who  flourished  at  the  close  of  the  2d  century. 
Muratori  has  inserted  in  his  work,  a  Catalogue  by  this  author  of 
the  New  Testament  books.  Of  its  extreme  antiquity,  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  It  is  certainly  not  later,  (according  to  Hug,)  than  the  close 
of  the  second  century.  Being  written  by  a  member  of  the  Roman 
Church,  (evidently  however,  from  a  Greek  original,")  the  language 
is  Latin,  and  somewhat  barbarous.  The  text  also  is  coiTupt :  but 
the  main  facts  are  clearly  stated.  It  contains  the  four  Gospels, 
thirteen  epistles  of  Paul,  (omitting  the  Hebrews),  Jude,  two  epistles, 
of  John,  probably  one  of  Peter,  (though  the  text  is  here  corrupt.) 
and  the  Revelation. 

XL  CENTURY. 

TERTULLIAN,    A.    D.   200. 

Of  the  Gospels,  he  says:  "  We  lay  this  down  for  a  certain  truth 
that  the  evangelic  Scriptures,  have  for  their  authors  the  Apostles, 
to  whom  the  work  of  publishing  the  Gospel  was  committed  by  the 
Lord  himself.  Among  the  apostles,  John  and  Matthew  teach  us 
the  faith:  among  apostolical  men  Luke  and  Mark  refresh  it." 
This  passage  shows  at  once  the  number  of  the  Gospels  universally 


44  CANON    OF    THE 

received,  and  the  names  of  their  authors,  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John. 

Of  the  Epistles,  he  says  : — "  Let  us  then  see,  what  milk  the  Cor- 
inthians received  from  Paul :  to  what  rule  the  Galatians  were 
reduced:  what  the  Philippians  read;  what  the  Thessalouiaus,  the 
Ephesiaus.  and  likewise  what  the  Romans  recite,  who  are  near  to 
us  ;  with  whom  both  Peter  and  Paul  left  the  Gospel  sealed  with 
their  blood.  We  have  also  churches  which  are  the  disciples  of 
John;  for  though  Marcion  x'ejects  his  Revelation,  the  succession  of 
bishops  traced  up  to  the  beginning  will  show  it  to  have  John  for  its 
author."  Accordingly,  in  his  writings  he  quotes  largely  from 
Rom.  Cor.  Eph.  Gal.  Col.  Thess.  Tim.  Titus,  1  Peter,  1  John,Jude, 
and  Revelation. 

There  is  a  remarkable  passage  in  his  writings,  that  reads  thus  : — 
"  Well,  if  you  be  willing  to  exercise  your  curiosity  profitably  in 
the  business  of  your  salvation,  visit  the  apostolical  churches,  in 
which  the  very  chairs  of  the  apostles,  still  preside  ;  in  which  their 
very  authentic  letters  are  recited  sounding  forth  tlie  voice,  and  rep- 
x-esenting  the  countenance,  of  each  one  of  them.  Is  Achaia  near 
you  ?  You  have  Corinth.  If  you  are  not  far  from  Macedonia,  you 
have  Phillippi,  you  have  Thessalonica.  If  you  can  go  to  Asia, 
you  have  Ephesus.  But  if  you  are  near  to  Italy,  you  have  Rome, 
from  whence  we  may  also  be  easily  satisfied." 

What  he  means  by  the  "  authentic  letters  "  of  the  Apostles, 
which  he  says  have  been  deposited  with  the  churches,  is  disputed. 
But  it  certainly  establishes  the  fact,  that  correct  copies  if  not  the 
originals  were  laid  up  in  the  sacred  libraries  of  the  churches  re- 
ferred to,  and  were  open  to  examination. 

CLEMENS    ALEXANDRINUS,    A.    D.    194. 

Dr.  Lardner,  after  an  elaborate  an-ay  of  quotations  by  this  wri- 
ter from  the  New  Testament,  thus  sums  up  his  testimony.  «'  He 
has  expressly  owned  the  four  Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  which  he  also  ascribes  to 
Luke.     He  owns  likewise  all  the  fourteen  epistles  of  Paul  except 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  45 

the  epistle  to  Philemon.  He  has  also  quoted  the  first  epistle  of  Peter, 
the  1st  and  2d  of  John,  Jude,  and  the  Revelation." 

After  an  examination  of  his  citations  from  various  Apocryphal 
works,  he  adds — "  On  the  whole,  it  appears  there  is  no  good 
reason  to  suppose,  that  Clement  received  as  Scripture  in  the 
highest  sense  of  the  word,  any  writings  besides  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament  now  commonly  received  by  us."  The  remark  is 
important ;  as  Clemens  is  the  only  Father  against  whom  the  charge 
is  made  with  any  plausibility,  of  appealing  to  the  authority  of 
Apocryphal  writers. 

IREN^L'S,    A.    D.    170. 

His  testimony  to  the  four  Gospels  is  most  explicit.  "  We  have 
not  received  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of  our  salvation  by  any 
others  than  those  by  whom  the  Gospel  has  been  brought  to  us ; 
which  Gospel  they  first  preached,  and  afterwards  by  the  will  of 
God  committed  to  writing ;  that  it  might  be  for  time  to  come  the 
foundation  and  pillar  of  our  faith.  For  after  that  our  Lord  rose  from 
the  dead,  the  apostles  .  .  .  received  a  perfect  knowledge  of  all 
things.  They  then  went  forth  to  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  declar- 
ing to  men  the  blessing  of  heavenly  peace,  having  all  of  them  and 
every  one  alike,  the  Gospel  of  God.  Matthew  then,  among  the 
Jews,  wrote  a  Gospel  in  their  own  language.  Mark  also,  the  dis- 
ciple and  interpreter  of  Peter,  delivered  to  us  in  writing,  things  that 
had  been  preached  by  Peter  ;  and  Luke,  the  companion  of  Paul, 
put  down  in  a  book  the  Gospel  preached  by  him  [Paul].  After- 
wards, John,  the  disciple  of  the  Lord,  who  also  leaned  upon  his 
breast,  published  a  Gospel  while  he  dwelt  at  Ephesus  in  Asia. 
And  he  who  does  not  assent  to  them  despiseth,  indeed,  those  who 
knew  the  mind  of  the  Lord :  but  he  despiseth  also  Christ  himself  the 
Lord;  and  he  despiseth  likewise  the  Father,  and  is  self-condemned, 
resisting  and  opposing  his  own  salvation." 

That  he  received  all  the  epistles  of  Paul,  is  evinced  by  his  nu- 
merous quotations  from  all  of  them  except  Philemon  and  the 
Hebrews,  of  which  Dr.  Lardner  gives  eighteen  examples.  "  The 
same  thing  Paul  has  explained  in  the  Romans  :"  "  This,  Paul  mani- 


46  CANON    OF    THE 

festly  shows  in  the  epistle  to  the  Corinthians:"  "As  the  blessed 
Paul  says  in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,"  and  other  like  expres- 
sions continually  occur  in  his  writings.  The  Revelation,  he  ex- 
pressly ascribes  to  "  John  the  disciple  of  Christ."  Dr.  Lardner 
says,  his  testimony  is  so  strong  and  full,  that  he  seems  to  put  it  be- 
yond all  question  that  it  is  the  work  of  John  the  Apostle. 

JUSTIN    MARTYR,   A.    D.    130. 

The  writings  of  this  eminent  man,  born  not  long  after  the  death 
of  the  Apostles,  and  acquainted  with  their  immediate  disciples, — 
though  few  and  small,  are  rich  in  references  to  the  New  Testament. 
He  seldom  names  the  particular  books.  But  in  these  early  times, 
there  were  no  controversies  rendering  it  necessary.  He  often 
speaks  of  the  Gospels  as  *'  Memoirs  of  Christ,"  and  says,  that  "the 
Apostles  composed  them."  In  his  writings  there  are  references 
more  or  less  clear  (Dr.  L.  gives  fifteen)  to  Acts,  Rom.  Cor.  Gal. 
Eph.  Phil.  Col.  Thess.  Heb.  Peter  and  the  Revelation,  which  last  he 
expi*essly  ascribes  to  the  Apostle  John. 

He  also  declares  it  to  be  a  general  practice,  that  "  the  Gospels  are 
read  at  public  worship  in  Christian  assemblies  every  Lord's  day  as 
the  time  allows,  and  when  the  I'eader  has  ended,  the  President 
makes  a  discourse  exhorting  to  the  imitation  of  so  excellent  things." 
This  is  a  striking  fact,  proving  that  so  early  as  the  beginning  of  the 
second  century,  they  were  acknowledged  to  be  genuine,  regarded 
with  the  highest  esteem,  and  open  to  all  the  world. 

A  similar  testimony  might  have  been  quoted  from  Tertullian, 
"We  come  together,  he  says,  "  to  I'ecuJlect  the  Divine  Scriptures. 
We  nourish  our  faith,  raise  our  hope,  confirm  our  trust  by  the  sacred 
word." 

OLD    TRANSLATIONS    BETWEEN    100    AND    200. 

It  does  not  admit  a  doubt,  that  the  old  Syriac  version,  which  has 
come  down  to  us  in  a  sound  condition,  was  composed  at  this  early 
period.  The  more  ancient  copies  want  2d  Peter,  2d  and  3d 
John,  and  probably  James:  and  this  circumstance  probably  fos- 
tered the  doubts  of  the  early  fathers  coucering  these  books.     But 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  47 

with  regard  to  all  the  others,  it  is  complete.  The  old  Italic  versions 
for  they  were  many,  have  also  come  down  more  or  less  perfect. 
They  were  composed  at  the  same  period;  and  the  fact  that  Jerome, 
who  in  the  fourth  century  digested  them  into  one  (the  present  Latin 
Vulgate)  which  contains  precisely  our  books,  says  nothing  of  having 
added  to  the  collection,  proves  satisfactorily  that  it  was  the  same 
with  his  own. 

I.  CENTURY. 

APOSTOLIC    FATHERS. 

We  have  now  reached  the  age  of  the  immediate  disciples  and  con- 
temporaries of  the  Apostles.  If  the  evidence  be  not  so  full  and 
overpowering  as  that  of  the  following  times,  let  it  be  considered — 

1st.  That  exceedingly  little  remains  of  the  genuine  writings  of 
the  Apostolical  Fathers.  The  whole  can  be  contained  in  a  pam- 
phlet of  thirty  pages. 

2d.  What  we  have,  is  pious  exhortation,  that  does  not  require 
appeals  to  authority. 

3d.  The  various  books  had  not  yet  been  so  extensively  circu- 
lated, as  to  make  it  certain  that  every  Christian  church  was  ac- 
quainted with  them,  It  required  some  time  therefore,  to  establish 
the  custom  of  quoting  them. 

POLYCARP,    A.    D.    100. 

All  that  remains  of  this  holy  martyr,  is  a  short  letter  to  the  Phil- 
ippians,  in  which  he  distinctly  refers  to  the  epistle  of  Pani  to  that 
church — "  For  neither  I  nor  any  one  like  me,  can  come  up  to  the  wis- 
dom of  blessed  and  renowned  Paul,  who  when  absent,  wrote  to  you 
(the  Philippians)  an  epistle." 

Occasionally  he  quotes  passages  with  some  formality,  as — 


48  CANON    OF    THE 


NEW  TESTAMENT.  POLYCARP. 

1  Cor.  vi.  2.  Do  ye  not  know  that  the  "  Do  we  not  know  that  the  saints  shall 
saints  shall  judge  the  world  ?  judge  the  world  ?"  as  Paul  teaches. 

Eph.  iv.  26.  Be  ye  angry  and  sin  not :  "  For  I  trust  that  ye  are  well  exercised 
let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  in  the  holy  scriptures :' As  in  these  scrip - 
wrath.  tures  it  is  said :  Be  ye  angry  and  sin  not. 

And  let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your 
wrath.' " 

Matt.  V.  3.  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  "  But  remembering  what  the  Lord, 
spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  hea-  Said :  '  Be  ye  merciful,  that  ye  may  ob- 
ven.  7.  Blessed  are  the  merciful,  for  tain  mercy.  Blessed  are  the  poor,  and 
they  shall  obtain  mercy.  Blessed  are  they  that  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteous-  ness  sake :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
ness*  sake,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  God.'  " 
heaven. 

Luke  vi.  37.  Judge  not,  and  ye  shall  "  The  Lord  said,  '  Judge  not,  that  ye 
not  be  judged .  be  not  judged.' " 

Mark  xiv.  38.  The  spirit  indeed  is  "  The  Lord  hath  said, '  The  spuit  in- 
willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak.  deed  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak." 

More  frequently,  he  only  refers  to  passages;  borrowing  the  sen- 
timents and  language  of  the  sacred  writers,  without  expressly 
naming  them,  as — 

N.  T.  POLYCARP. 

Acts  ii.  24.    Whom  God  hath  raised  "  Whom  God    hath  raised,    having 

up,  having  loosed  the  pains  of  death.  loosed  the  pains  of  heU." 

Rom.  xiv.  10.    We  shall  all  stand  be-  "  And  must  all  stand  before  the  judg- 

fore  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ.    12.  So,  ment  seat  of  Christ,  and  every  one  give 

then,  every  one  of  us  shall  give  an  ac-  an  account  for  himself." 
count  of  himself  to  God. 

1  Cor.  vi.  9.    Neither  fornicators,  nor  '•  And  neither  fornicators,  nor  effemi- 

idolators,  nor  adulterers,  nor  eflfeminate,  nate,    nor  abusers  of  themselves  with 

nor  abusers  of  themselves  with    man-  mankind,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom   of 

kind;    10,  Shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God." 
God. 

Eph.  ii.  8.    For  by  grace  are  ye^saved  "  Knowing  that  by  grace  ye  are  saved 

through  faith :   and  that  not  of  your-  not  of  works,  but  by  the  will  of  God 

selves :    it  is  the  gift   of  God— not  of  through  Jesus  Christ." 
works. 


NEAV    TESTAMENT.  49 

1  Thess.  V.  17.    Pray  without  ceasing.  "Praying  without  ceasing  for  all." 

1  Tim.  vi.  7.    For  we  brought  nothing  "The  love  of  money  is  the  beginning 

with  us  into  this  world,  and  it  is  certain  of  all  troubles.  Knowing,  therefore,  that 

we  can  carry  nothing  out.    10.  For  the  as  we  brought  nothing  into  the  world,  so 

love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil.  neither  can  we  carry  anything  out." 

1  Pet.  i.  8.    Whom  having  not  seen  ye  "  In  whom  though  ye  see  him  not  ye 

love;  in  whom  though  now  ye  see  him  believe,  and  believing  ye  rejoice  with 

not,  yet  believing  j-e  rejoice  with  joy  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory." 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

1  Pet.  ii.  22.    Who  did  no  sin,  neither  "  Who  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  body 

was  guile  found  in  his  moutlL    23.  Who  on  the  tree ;  who  did  no  sin,  neither  was 

his  own  self  bare  our  sins  in  his  own  guile  found  in  his  mouth." 
body  on  the  tree. 

1  John  iv.  3.    And  every  spirit,  that  "  For  whoever    confesseth    not  that 

confesseth    not    that  Jesus  Christ  has  Jesus  Christ  is  come  in  the  flesh,  is 

come  in  the  flesh,  is  not  of  God:  and  Antichrist." 
this  is  that  spirit  of  Antichrist,  whereof 
you  have  heard,  &c. 

Nearly  thirty  examples  of  this  kind  are  found  ia  this  brief  letter; 
proving  the  author's  perfect  familiarity  with  all  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  except  a  few  of  the  minor  epistles. 

IGNATIUS,    A.  D.    100. 

According  to  Chrysostom,  he  personally  conversed  with  many  of 
the  Apostles.  The  only  genuine  remains  of  him  are  seven  short 
epistles.  One  is  a  letter  to  the  Ephesians,  in  which  he  expressly 
mentions  the  epistle  written  to  them  a  few  years  before  by  Paul. 
"  Ye  are  the  companions  (he  says)  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Gospel  of 
the  blessed  Paul,  who  throughout  all  his  epistle  makes  mention  of 
(i.  e.  commends)  you  in  Christ  Jesus." 

This  is  the  only  book  expressly  named,  but  there  are  more  than 
forty  examples  in  the  few  pages  which  contain  his  writings,  of  his 
employing  the  language  of  the  New  Testament :  with  which  he 
must  therefore  have  been  acquainted,  as — 

N.  T.  IGNATIUS. 

Matt.  iii.  15.  For  thus  it  becomes  us  "  Baptised  of  John,  that  all  righteous- 
to  fulfil  all  righteousness.  ness  might  be  fulfilled  by  him." 

Matt.  X.  16.  Be  ye  therefore  wise  as  "  Be  wise  as  a  serpent  in  all  things 
serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves,  and  harmless  as  a  dove." 


50  CANON    OF    THE 

John  iii.  8.    The  wind  bloweth  where  "The  spirit    is  not  deceived,  being 

it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  from    God:    for  it   knows   whence    it 

thereof:   but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  comes,  and  whither  it  goes,  and  reproves 

Cometh  and  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every  secret  things." 
one  that  is  born  of  the  spirit. 

Acts  X.  41.    Who  did  eat  and  drink  "  But  after  his  resurrection  he  did  eat 

with  him  after  he  arose  from  the  dead.  and  drink  with  them. 

1  Cor.  i.  18.  For  the  preaching  of  the  "  Let  my  life  be  sacrificed  for  the  doc- 
cross  is  to  them  that  perish  foolishness :  trine  of  the  cross,  which  is  a  stumbling- 
but  unto  us  which  are  saved  it  is  the  block  unto  unbelievers,  but  to  us  salva. 
power  of  God.  19.  For  it  is  written —  tion  and  life  eternal.  Where  is  the  wise  ? 
I  will  bring  to  nothing  the  understanding  Where  is  the  disputer  ?  Where  is  the 
of  the  prudent.  20.  Where  is  the  wise  ?  boasting  of  them  that  are  called  pru- 
Where  is  the  scribe  ?  Where  is  the  dis-  dent  ? 
puter  of  this  world  ? 

Eph.  V.  25.      Husbands    love     your  "  Exhort  my  brethren;  in  the  name  of 

wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  Jesus  Christ,  to  love  their  wives   as  the 

Church  and  gave  himself  for  it.  Lord  the  Church." 

The  reference  to  other  books,  particularly  Philippians,  Colossi- 
ans,  Thessalonians,  Timothy,  Titus,  1st  and  2d  John,  are  equally 
striking  and  unequivocal. 

CLEMENS   ROMANUS,    A.  D.    96. 

The  friend  and  fellow-laborer  of  Paul,  whom  he  specially  names 
in  Phil.  Iv.  3.  So  the  ancients  positively  attest,  without  a  dissenting 
voice.  He  has  only  left  a  short  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  In  it, 
Paul's  epistle  to  the  same  church  is  expressly  mentioned. 

N.  T.  CLEMENS. 

1  Cor.  i.  11-12.  For  it  hath  been  de-  "  Take  into  your  hands  the  epistle  of 
Glared  unto  me  of  you,  my  brethren, ...  the  blessed  Paul  the  apostle.  What  did 
that  there  are  contentions  among  you.  he  at  the  first  write  to  you  in  the  begin- 
Now  this  I  say,  that  every  one  of  you  ning  of  the  Gospel  ?  Verily  he  did  by  the 
saith  that  I  am  of  Paul ;  and  I  of  Apollos ;  spirit  admonish  you  concerning  himself 
and  I  of  Cephas ;  and  I  of  Christ."  and  Cephas  and  Apollos,  because  that 

even  then,  you  did  form  parties. 

This  is  the  only  instance  of  a  book  of  the  New  Testament  being 
named.  But  there  are  more  than  forty  manifest  references  like  the 
following; : 


NEW    TESTAMENT. 


51 


N.  T. 

Matt.  xxvi.  24.  Woe  to  that  man  by 
whom  tho  Son  of  Man  is  betrayed:  it 
had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  not 
been  born.  Matt,  xviii  6.  Whoso  shall 
offend  one  of  these  little  ones  which  be- 
lieve in  me,  it  were  better  for  him  that  a 
millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck 
and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth 
of  the  sea. 

Luke  vi.  36.  Be  ye  therefore  merciful 
as  your  Father  also  is  merciful. 

Rom.  i.  29.  Being  filled  with  all  un- 
righteousness, fornication,  wickedness, 
covetousness,  maliciousness  ;  full  of  en- 
vy, murder,  debate,  deceit,  malignity, 
whisperings,  (30)  backbiters,  haters  of 
God,  despiteful,  proud,  boasters.  32. 
Who  knowing  the  judgment  of  God  (that 
they  which  do  such  things  are  worthy  of 
death)  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have 
pleasure  in  them  that  do  them. 

1  Cor.  15-20.  But  now  is  Christ  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  become  the  first  fruits 
of  them  that  slept. 


1  Tim.  ii.  8.  I  will  therefore,  that  men 
pray  everywhere,  lifting  up  holy  hands 
without  wrath  and  doubting. 

Eph.  iv.  4.  There  is  one  body  and  one 
spirit,  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope 
of  your  calling.  5.  One  Lord,  one  faith, 
one  baptism.  6.  One  God  and  Father 
ofaU. 

Heb.  iii.  5.  And  Moses  verily  was 
faithful  in  all  his  house. 

1  Peter  iv.  8.  For  charity  shall  cover 
a  multitude  of  sins. 


CLEMENS. 

"Remember  the  words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus.  For  he  said,  '  Woe  to  that  man 
[by  whom  offences  come.]  It  were  bet- 
ter for  him  that  he  had  not  been  born 
than  that  he  should  offend  one  of  my 
elect.  It  were  better  for  him  that  a  mill- 
stone should  be  tied  about  his  neck,  and 
that  he  should  be  drowned  in  the  sea, 
than  that  he  should  offend  one  of  my 
little  ones." 

"Especially  remembering  the  words 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  'Be  ye  merciful  that 
ye  may  obtain  mercy.' " 

"  Casting  off  from  us  all  '  unrighteous- 
ness and  iniquity,  covetousness,  de- 
bates, malignities,  deceits,  whisperings 
backbitings,  hatred  of  God,  pride,  boast, 
ing,'  and  vainglory  and  ambition.  '  For 
they  that  do  these  things  are  hateful  to 
God :  and  not  only  they  that  do  them, 
but  they  also  who  have  pleasure  in 
them." 

"Let  113  consider,  beloved,  how  the 
Lord  does  continually  show  us,  that 
there  shall  be  a  resurrection.  Of  which 
he  has  made  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the 
fii'st  fruits,  having  raised  him  from  the 
dead." 

"  Let  us  therefore  come  to  him  in  ho- 
liness of  soul,  lifting  up  to  him  chaste 
and  undefiled  hands." 

"Have  we  not  one  God,  and  one 
Christ?  And  is  there  not  one  spirit 
poured  out  upon  us,  and  one  calling  in 
Christ." 

"  When  also  Moses,  that  blessed  and 
'faithful '  servant  in  all  his  house." 

"  Charity  covers  the  multitude  of 
sins." 


52  CANON    OF    THE 

2  Peter  ii.  5.     Aud   saved  Noah  a       Noah  preached  repentance,  and  they 
preacher  of  righteousness.  who  hearkened  [to  him]  were  saved." 

Such  coiucidences  of  thought  and  expression,  it  is  impossible  to 
consider  as  accidental.  On  the  whole,  it  seems  certain,  that  Clement 
had  in  his  hands  at  least  the  first  three  Gospels,  the  Acts,  and  the 
five  principal  epistles  of  Paul. 


SUMMARY. 

As  the  mind  is  apt  to  be  confused  and  lost  in  a 
multitude  of  quotations,  we  shall  endeavor  to  aid  the 
reader,  by  a  brief  commentary  and  summing  up. 

Commencing-  with  the  fourth  century  for  a  reason 
already  given,  we  find  that  no  less  than  ten  principal 
writers  have  furnished  catalogues,  six  of  which,  agree 
perfectly  with  our  collection.  The  others,  only  differ 
in  this ;  that  they  omit  the  Revelation,  and  one  of 
them  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  How  perfectly  deci- 
sive this  fact ! 

Moving  our  post  of  observation  to  the  third  cen- 
tury, we  do  not  find  such  a  number  of  regular  cata- 
logues :  indeed,  there  are  but  two  that  may  be  called 
complete.  Yet  the  evidence  is  equally  satisfying. 
The  number  of  writers  from  whom  Lardner  quotes  in 
proof  of  the  existence  and  full  of  recognition  of  our 
books,  is  about  forty ^  of  whom  it  would  be  hardly  too 
bold  to  say,  that  they  are  of  '-every  nation,  and  kindred, 
and  tongue  and  people."  Even  the  dark  forests  of  Ger- 
many, send  forth  a  trumpet  voice  in  attestation  of  the 
Christian  verity.     We  refer  to  the  venerable  martyr 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  53 

Victorinus,  bishop  of  Pettaw,  a  town  on  the  river 
Drave.  He  expressly  quotes  the  four  Gospels  by 
name.  He  quotes  also  the  Acts,  and  speaks  of  the 
seven  chuixhes  to  which  Paul  wrote  epistles.  "After- 
wards (he  adds)  he  wrote  to  particular  persons  ;  un- 
doubtedly, he  means,  Timothy,  Titus,  and  Philemon. 
On  the  Revelation,  he  wrote  an  elaborate  commen- 
tary. 

The  works  of  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  over- 
flow with  citations,  except  from  James,  Jude,  2d 
Peter,  and  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  to  which  no 
reference  is  made.  The  four  Gospels,  he  mentions 
frequently.  Every  epistle  of  Paul  is  referred  to,  with 
the  exception  specified.  So,  are  most  of  the  Catholic 
epistles.  ]Mark  also  the  fact,  that  in  that  distin- 
guished Bishop,  there  is  not  one  quotation  from  any 
spurious  or  apocryphal  writer. 

Of  the  profound  and  critical  Origen,  Dr.  Mill 
makes  this  striking  remark :  "  (Quotations  of  Scrip- 
ture are  so  thickly  sown,  that  if  we  had  all  his  works 
remaining,  we  should  have  before  us  almost  the  whole 
text  of  the  Bible.'"'  His  catalogue  has  been  given  in 
our  Synopsis.  All  necessary  to  be  remembered  in  ex- 
amining it,  is  the  distinction  made  by  Eusebius  be- 
tween the  '-'controverted"  (airafyo^usm)  books,  and 
those  '•  universally  acknowledged "  (w^oT^oyorana)  to 
which  Origen  subscribes. 

Pursuing  our  course  upward,  we  come  to  the  second 
century;  and  the  first  whom  we  meet,  is  the  eloquent 


54  CANON    OF    THE 

Teitiillian,  of  whom  Dr.  Lardner  observes  :  '•  there 
are  in  him  more  and  larger  quotations  from  the  small 
volume  of  the  New  Testament,  than  there  are  of 
all  the  works  of  Cicero^  in  writers  of  all  characters 
for  several  agesP  Of  the  Gospels,  he  says  :  "  we  lay 
this  down  for  a  certain  truth,  that  the  evangelic  scrip- 
tures, have  for  their  authors,  men  to  whom  the  w^ork 
of  publishing  the  Gospel  was  committed  by  the  Lord 
himself.  Concerning  the  epistles  of  Paul,  he  says : 
"let  us  then  see  what  milk  the  Corinthians  received 
from  Paul,  to  what  rule  the  Galatians  were  sub- 
jected, what  the  Philippians  read,"  &c.  The  only 
books  not  used  by  him,  are  James,  2d  Peter,  2d  and 
3d  John. 

Equally  ample  is  the  testimony  of  Clement  of 
Alexandria.  He  asserts  in  various  places  that  there 
are  four  Gospels.  He  receives  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, and  quotes  frequently  the  various  epistles  of  Paul. 

The  evidence  of  Ireneeus,  bishop  of  Lyons  in 
France,  is  so  exceedingly  valuable,  that  we  have 
quoted  largely  from  him.  We  find,  that  he  received 
the  four  Gospels,  and  thirteen  epistles  of  Paul,  which 
he  expressly  cites.  No  apocryphal  book  is  mentioned 
by  him,  as  having  any  authority. 

We  close  the  reviews  of  this  century,  with  Justin 
Martyr  ;  one  of  the  many  in  these  days,  who  died  for 
their  religion.  The  synopsis  shows,  that  he  frequently 
refers  to  our  Gospels,  though  he  does  not  name  their 
authors,  but  calls  them  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  Apos- 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  55 

lies."     There  are  also  distinct  references  to  the  Acts, 


the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  Colossians  &c.  Jus- 
tin was  born,  according  to  some,  in  the  year  89 ; 
some,  place  him  a  few  years  later.  How  decisive  is 
this  for  the  genuineness  of  our  books  !  When  we 
quoted  the  last  two  or  three  waiters,  we  came  within 
a  generation  of  the  very  men,  who  are  alleged  with- 
out a  dissenting  voice  to  have  written  their  records  ; 
and  the  light  of  tradition  still  beams  forth  radiant  and 
clear.  How  could  these  people  be  deceived  in  a  mat- 
ter so  interesting  to  the  Christian  as  the  writing  of 
his  sacred  books — when  their  authors  had  not  been 
dead  forty  years?  The  very  supposition  inakes 
them  idiots. 

The  testimony  that  follows  of  the  old  Syriac  and 
Italic  versions^  speaks  for  itself,  and  needs  no  comment. 

We  come  now,  to  the  venerable  men  who  lived  in 
the  times  of  tbe  Apostles,  and  were  honored  with  their 
immediate  instructions  ;  for  which  reason,  they  are 
usually  called  the  "  Apostolical  Fathers."  Though 
we  are  able  to  present  few  strongly  marked  and  for- 
mal quotations,  yet  that  they  were  acquainted  with, 
many,  if  not  all,  our  sacred  books,  is  beyond  a  doubt. 
Let  the  reader  examine  our  synopsis,  marking  the 
identity  of  thought  and  phrase  between  the  extracts 
from  them,  and  the  passages  of  the  New  Testament 
in  the  opposite  column,  and  he  will  find  it  impossible 
to  adopt  any  other  conclusion.  Besides,  there  are 
express  quotations  by  Barnabas,  Clemens,'  Romanus, 


56  CANON   OF    THE 

Ignatius,  and  Poiycaipj  which  we  w^U  not  mjure  by 
an  attempt  at  compression. 

After  all,  we  have  confessed,  that  the  evidence  of 
these  holy  men  is  not  so  overpowering  as  that  of  their 
successors.  But  we  have  also  explained  it.  Their 
works  that  remain,  are  very  few  and  short :  all  that 
is  authentic,  could  be  printed  on  twenty  octavo  pages. 
The  subjects  on  which  they  wrote,  w^ere  simple  and 
practical,  not  requiring  an  appeal  to  authorities.  It 
must  be  remembered  also,  that  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament  had  been  freshly  w^ritten,  and  not  yet  dis- 
tributed through  the  churches,  or  collected  into  a 
canon.  In  quoting  therefore  largely  from  any  of  them, 
they  ran  some  risk  of  not  being  understood.  Strength 
is  given  to  this  supposition,  by  the  fact,  that  w^hen 
they  knew  from  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  that 
those  w4iom  they  addressed  w^ere  acquainted  with  a 
particular  writing,  they  actually  used  it.  Thus 
Clemens,  w^riting  to  the  Corinthians,  quotes  Paul's 
epistle  to  that  church  ;  and  Barnabas,  writing  to  the 
Philippians,  mentions  his  epistle  to  them. 

We  here  close  the  argument.  Brief  and  imperfect 
as  the  statement  has  been,  we  fear  that  some  will  find 
it  disagreeably  long.  But  we  cannot,  (and  we  would 
not,  if  we  could,)  turn  an  inquiry  of  this  kind  into  an 
Arabian  tale.  What  is  said  of  gold,  that  the  richest 
mines  are  often  found  in  (he  most  arid  and  inhospita- 
ble regions,  may  be  applied  to  truth.  Its  most  valua- 
ble treasures  frequently  lie  concealed  in  the  most  dry 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  57 

and  uninteresting  discussions  ;  and  doubtless  this  is 
tlie  reason,  why  they  are  so  rarely  discovered. 


NATURE  OF  THE  EVIDENCE. 

Before  leaving  the  subject,  we  shall  make  a  reflec- 
tion on  the  nature  of  the  evidence  adduced.  It 
claims  no  mysterious  sanctity,  but  is  simply  histori- 
cal— being  the  very  same  that  is  applied  to  the  genu- 
ineness of  any  other  production.  Why  do  we  receive 
the  Commentaries  of  Geesar,  and  the  Annals  of  Taci- 
tus, as  the  works  of  these  eminent  men?  Because 
their  authorship  is  asserted  by  the  general  voice  of 
antiquity.  They  are  quoted  as  the  authors,  by  wri- 
ters, who,  from  their  honesty,  research,  and  proximity 
to  the  time  in  which  they  lived,  were  fully  qualified 
to  pronounce  judgment.  They  are  cited  by  enemies, 
and  proofs  of  genuineness  are  found  in  every  page  of 
the  writings  themselves.  We  all  understand  such 
appeals.  There  is  a  natural  logic  in  the  breast  of 
almost  every  man,  which  seldom  fails  of  leading  to 
the  right  conclusion.  It  is  true,  that  the  evidence  is 
not  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  (in  the  mathema- 
tician's sense),  demonstrative :  but  it  is  the  same  that 
guides  us  in  all  matters  of  fact,  and  common  life. 
How  do  we  know  the  truth  of  any  thing  that  is  nar- 
rated to  us,  which  we  did  not  observe  personally? 
3 


58  CATS'ON    OF    THE 

Why  do  we  believe  that  there  was  an  ancient  city 
called  Nineveh,  or  that  the  English  John  signed  the 
Magna  Charta?  Can  they  be  proved  by  diagrams — 
or  evolved  from  an  equation  ?  Can  it  be  shown,  that 
their  denial  contradicts  some  necessary  or  immutable 
truth  ?  Yet  \vho  refuses  to  admit  them  ;  and  what 
name  would  we  give  a  man,  who,  because  their  evi- 
dence belongs  to  the  kind  which  logicians  call  jyroha- 
biliti/,  plays  the  sceptic,  but  that  of  a  fool,  better 
qualified  for  Bedlam,  than  to  converse  with  his  fellow 
men  ? 

.  .  .  To  all  this,  we  assent  without  difficulty,  some 
may  reply.  We  are  quite  ready  to  believe  without 
Euclid,  that  Thucydides  wrote  the  history  of  the 
Peloponnesian  war,  and  Cicero  the  orations  against 
Verres.  But  when  works  offer  themselves  to  our 
attention  and  claim  our  regard,  as  productions  of  men 
divinely  inspired,  a  much  heavier  draft  is  made  on 
the  bank  of  faith.  Far  weightier  proof  is  necessary, 
to  establish  the  origination  of  miraculous  narratives 
from  the  u\Qn  who  professed  to  have  seen  the  facts, 
than  to  prove  that  a  relation  of  probable,  every-day 
occurrences,  is  truly  his,  whose  name  it  bears.  We 
concede  the  perfect  fairness  of  this  demand  ;  provided 
the  evidence  required,  is  only  greater  in  degree — not 
different  in  kind.  God  might  have  made  the  proofs 
of  our  religion,  more  overpowering  than  the  evidence 
of  mathematics  itself:  he  might  have  uttered  them  in 


I 


NEW    TESTAMENT.  59 

thunder  ;  and  written  them  with  a  pen  of  fire  in  the 
skies.     But  he  has  not  adopted  this  course  ;   as  he  de- 
signed our  present  state  to  he  imperfect  and  probation- 
ary, in  which  our  facuUies  should  be  called  forth  by 
the  powerful  stimulus  of  necessity,  our  principles  tried, 
and  the  moral  character  formed  for  eternity.     Now, 
these  results  could  not  be  attained,  by  placing  us  in 
the  noon -tide  light  which  many  thoughtlessly  desire. 
Faith  would  cease  to  be  a  virtue,  in  a  world  so  con- 
stituted :   Holiness  would  become  a  service  of  compul- 
sion, and  man  a  slave.     Meanwhile,  if  we  see  here 
"  through  a  glass,"  darkly,  it  is  our  comfort  to  know, 
that  we  have  light  enough  to  direct  us,  if  we  fahhfully 
improve  it.     "Men  have  reason,"  says  the  sagacious 
Locke,  '•  to  be  well  satisfied  with  what  God  has  done 
for  them ;  since  he  has  given  whatever  is  necessary 
for  convenience  of  life  and  information  of  virtue;  and 
has  put  within  their  reach  if  they  are  willing  to  make 
search,  to  which,  however,  he  will  not  compel  them,  a 
comfortable  provision  for  this  life,  and  the  way  that 
leads  to  a  better.     We  shall  not  have  much  need  to 
complain  of  the  narrowness  of  our  minds,  if  we  will 
employ  them  about  what  may  be  of  use  to  us ;  and  it 
will  be  an  unpardonable  as  well  as  childish  peevish- 
ness, if  we  undervalue  the  advantages  of  our  know- 
ledge, and  neglect  to  improve  it,  because  there  are 
some  things  that  are  set  out  of  its  reach." 

With  regard  to  the  subject  discussed,  our  brief  ex- 


60  CANON    OF    THE 

amination  shows  with  what  little  reason,  want  of  evi- 
dence can  be  alleged.  It  is  indeed  of  the  same  kind 
with  that  of  productions  merely  human.  But  in  de- 
gree it  is  far  more  ample  and  satisfying,  than  all  that 
has  ever  been  advanced  for  any  book  of  equal  an- 
tiquity. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  61 

CHAPTER  II. 

CANON    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT. 

§  I.— The  Proof . 

We  propose  to  arrive  at  our  conclusion  on  this  im- 
portant subject,  by  a  shorter  route  than  that  which  is 
frequently  adopted.  The  Old  Testament,  in  regard 
both  to  its  genuineness  and  canonical  authority,  shall 
be  built  upon  the  New ;  and  as  believers  in  the  Son 
of  God,  we  feel  certain  that  it  is  a  foundation  strong 
enough  to  sustain  the  whole  edifice. 

It  is  not  said,  that  this  volume  possesses  no  inde- 
pendent evidence — that  no  appeal  can  be  made  to 
national  tradition;  to  the  scrupulous  care  with  which 
the  Jews  guarded  their  sacred  writings  ;  to  the  support 
these  writings  receive  from  the  traditions  of  other 
nations ;  and  to  their  internal  marks  of  genuineness. 
It  does  not  hang  thus  in  the  air.  But  this  is  asserted, 
that  a  man  of  fair  mind,  whose  faculties  have  been 
sharpened  by  habits  of  critical  analysis,  cannot  retire 
from  such  an  investigation,  without  a  feeling  of  doubt 
and  disappointment.  The  main  argument,  that  from 
national  tradition,  is  much  more  plausible  than  solid. 
During  the  last  two  thousand  years,  indeed,  the  Jews 
have  exhibited  the  most  intense  devotion  to  their 
sacred  books :  it  has  been,  and  still  is  their  ruling 


62  CANON    OF    THE 

passion,  sometimes  even  rising  to  maniacal  excite- 
ment, as  could  easily  be  shown  from  their  history. 
This,  combined  with  the  fact,  that  during  almost  the 
whole  of  the  period  mentioned,  they  have  possessed  a 
regular  body  of  learned  men,  w4io  watch  over  the 
purity  of  their  volume,  is  a  good  argument  for  its 
existence  and  preservation,  since  the  fourth  or  fifth 
century  preceding  the  birth  of  Christ.  But  the  phi- 
losophical inquirer  will  remind  us,  that  this  has  not 
always  been  the  case.  The  ruling  passion,  in  nations 
as  in  men,  is  subject  to  change,  and  the  change  is  so 
astonishing  oftentimes,  that  the  subjects  of  it  hardly 
retain  a  single  feature  of  character,  by  which  they 
can  be  identified  with  what  they  w^ere.  What  a  con- 
trast between  the  old  Roman,  and  his  modern  descen- 
dants ;  between  the  Mexican,  and  the  Castilian,  of  the 
fifteenth  century!  That  a  revolution  equally  great 
has  been  experienced  by  the  Jews,  is  beyond  dispute. 
Let  the  single  example  sufiice,  of  their  return  during 
tjieir  captivity  in  Babylon  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Divine  Unity,  which  they  have  maintained  ever  since, 
with  a  fidelity  truly  admirable,  when  before  that  time, 
their  love  of  idolatry  was  a  perfect  madness.  Nor  is 
it  possible  to  disguise  another  fact  bearing  yet  more 
directly  on  the  subject — that  from  the  reign  of  Solo- 
mon, to  the  dethronement  of  their  last  king  by  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, they  evinced  the  most  stupid  indifference 
to  their  religious  writings  as  well  as  institutions. 
Forgeries,  therefore,  might  easily  have  taken   place. 


OLD    TESTAMENT. 


63 


If  the  small  literary  coterie,  to  whom  the  people 
bUndly  submitted  in  every  thing  pertaining  to  Learn- 
ing and  religion,  chose  to  impose  upon  them  certain 
myths,  fragments  of  song,  and  annals  of  olden  time, 
as  the' "sacred  library,"  whicii  had  come  down  from 
their  remote  ancestors,  there  was  positively  nothing  in 
the  character  of  the  nation  to  prevent  it. 

This  is  only  a  specimen  of  the  numerous  doubts 
that  will  disturb  the  most  honest  mind,  in  view  of  the 
difficulties  connected  with  an  independent  demonstra- 
tion of  the  canonical  authority  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Let  us  be  thankful  that  we  are  not  compelled  to  the 
arduous  task  of  encountering  them ;  and  that  we 
have  a  ground  of  certainty,  from  which  no  array  of 
learning  or  ingenuity  can  dislodge  us.  Let  us  accept 
with  gratitude,  the  authoritative  dicta  of  the  divine 
Founder  of  Christianity,  and  not  blush  to  acknowl- 
edge that  our  Bible,  our  whole  Bible,  comes  from  his 

sacred  hand ! 

With  this  infallible  guidance,  the  enlightened  Chris-* 
tian  feels  perfectly  safe.  In  the  many  questions 
raised  by  unbelievers,  concerning  the  possibility  of 
introducing  spurious  writings  before  the  advent  of  the 
great  teacher,  he  may  take  a  strong  literary  and  his- 
torical, but  not  a  great  religious  interest.  Their 
"Pseudo  Isaiahs,"  and  "Pseudo  Daniels,"  will  not 
disconcert  him  in  the  least.  Their  positions  he 
believes  to  be  false,  and  incapable  of  being  sub- 
stantiated by   fair   argument:    but   even    though    he 


64  CANON    OF    THE 

could  not  prove  their  fallacy  by  positive  demonstra- 
tion, he  has  all  that  is  needed,  in  the  ^'- hnprimatur  ^'' 
of  one  who  never  deceived  him,  and  on  whose  perfect 
truth  he  has  staked  his  immortality.  The  man  who 
has  given  his  soul  to  Christ,  can  have  no  scruple  to 
trust  Mm  wdth  settling  his  rule  of  faith. 


OUR  COLLECTION    APPROVED  BY    CHRIST.       TWO 
METHODS  OF  PROOF. 

What,  then,  is  the  testimony  of  our  Redeemer  and 
his  inspired  apostles,  regarding  our  volume  ?  Though 
they  have  nowhere  given  a  formal  catalogue,  ample 
information  can  be  obtained  from  them  in  two  differ- 
ent ways : 

1st.  By  ascertaining  w^hat  books  they  quote,  or 
directly  refer  to : 

2dly.  By  inquiring  what  w^as  the  established  Canon 
of  the  Jews,  at  the  time  they  lived ;  and  whether 
there  is  evidence  that  they  adopted  it. 


FIRST  METHOD  '.     DIRECT  aUOTATTONS. 

1st.  This  point  shall  detain  us  but  a  moment. 
The  highly  satisfactory  statement  can  be  made  at 
once,  that  there  are  in  the  New  Testament  distinct 
references  to  all  the  books  of  the  Old — (to  Genesis, 
Exodus,  (fcc,  (fee.,)  except  Ruth,  Ezra,  Esther,  Eccle- 
siastes,  Song  of  Solomon.     The  seal  of  the  author  of 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  65 

Christianity  is  thus  stamped  upon  our  whole  collec- 
tion, with  the  exception  of  four  or  five  books ;  and  the 
silence  concerning  these  is  perfectly  natural.  There 
was  no  occasion  of  appealing  to  them  :  indeed,  the 
wonder  is,  that  so  small  a  book  as  the  New  Testa- 
ment should  be  found  to  have  honored  its  elder  sister 
with  Romany  notices,  (256  direct  citationsj  and  283 
references),  not  that  a  few'oFTts  smaller  portions 
should  be  passed  over.  Equally  striking  is  the  fact, 
that  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  more  apparent  than 
real,  no  notice  is  taken  of  any  Apocryphal  books. 
Whenever  a  quotation  is  made,  we  know  at  once 
\vhere  to  find  it  in  the  Old  Volume.  Cruden's  Con- 
cordance will  direct  to  the  book,  the  chapter,  and  the 
verse.  Such  are  the  results  to  which  we  are  led  by 
i\\&  first  method.  Supposing  our  volume  to  consist  of 
five  hundred  pages,  we  may  say  that  four  hundred 
and  ninety  bear  the  legible  signature  of  the  incarnate 
"  wisdom  of  God." 

SECOND  method:    CHRIST   ADOPTED  THE  ESTAB- 
LISHED CANON  OF  HIS  COUNTRYMEN. 

After  all,  the  evidence  is  not  perfect.  Some  books, 
as  we  have  observed,  are  passed  over.  Is  it  not  pos- 
sible then,  to  settle  the  question  with  a  little  more 
precision?  We  answer,  by  calling  the  reader's  atten- 
tion to  the  2d  method— that  of  ascertaining  whether 
the  Jews  had  an  established  and  universally  recog- 
nized collection,  at  the  time  of  our  Lord's  appearing, 
3* 


66 


CANOX    OF    THE 


and  whether  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  he 
adopted  it. 

On  the  latter  point,  which  it  is  convenient  to  dispose 
of  first,  one  answer  only  can  be  given.  Whatever 
the  Jewish  collection  was,  Jesus  Christ  most  certainly 
approved  it.  We  repeat  the  assertion,  and  with  em- 
phasis:  Whatever  the  Jewish  collection  was— /e5W5 
Christ  most  certainly  approved  it.  He  did  so,  by 
his  uniform  practice  of  appealing  to  the  same  books 
which  they  made  use  of,  and  attributing  to  them  the 
same  Divine  authority,  without  ever  hinting  that 
there  was  the  least  discrepancy  between  their  views 
and  his  own.  None  can  charge  him  with  want  of 
moral  courage  in  administering  reproof.  How  often 
did  the  corrupt  Pharisees  writhe  under  the  lash  of 
his  cutting  denunciations  !  Their  hypocrisy  and  pride, 
their  savage  cruelty,  their  lust  for  power  and  riches, 
their  compassing  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte, 
who  became  in  their  hands  more  a  child  of  hell  than 
before,  all  these  and  other  abominable  traits  of  char- 
acter, are  painted  as  with  a  pencil  dipt  in  fire ;  so  that 
while  reading  his  discourses,  we  cease  to  wonder  at 
that  demoniac  fury,  which  cried  in  the  ears  of  the 
Roman  Governor,  "  Not  this  man,  but  Barabbas  ;  Cru- 
cify him.  Crucify  him."  Now,  is  it  likely  that  this 
terrible  reprover  was  all  the  while  conniving  at  a 
crime,  towering  above  every  other,  because  more  fatal 
in  its  consequences — the  crime  of  adulterating  the  pure 
fountain  of  Divine  truth  ?     If  the  Jews  had  admitted 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  67 

any  spurious  or  apocryphal  books,  would  he  not  have 
upbraided  them  with  it,  and  commanded  his  apostles 
to  rectify  the  abuse?  But  not  a  hint  of  this  kind  is 
dropped.  On  the  subject  of  the  sacred  books,  both  he 
and  his  disciples  are  as  perfect  Jews  as  ever  trod  the 
floor  of  a  Synagogue.  ''Search  your  Scriptures,"  was 
his  habitual  language,  '-for  these  are  they  which 
testify  of  me."  If,  after  this,  Christ  did  not  unquali- 
fiedly accept  the  canon  of  his  countrymen,  the  con- 
clusion is  unavoidable :  he  was  an  arch  hypocrite  and 
an  impostor ! 

THE  JEAVISH  CANON  AGREES  WITH  OUR  OWN. 

But  what  w^as  it?  And  where  shall  we  find  it? 
The  goodness  of  Divine  Providence,  which  has  never 
ceased  to  watch  over  the  Church,  enables  us  to  give  a 
solid  answer  to  these  questions.  We  have  the  testi- 
mony of  learned,  honest,  and  every  way  qualified 
witnesses,  from  the  times  of  our  Lord  himself,  that  a 
collection  existed,  and  that  it  w^as  the  same  with  that 
which  we  hold  in  our  hands. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOSEPHUS.       BORN  A.  D.  37. 

Let  US  hear,  in  the  first  place,  the  great  historian  of 
the  Jewish  nation.  No  man  could  be  more  favorably 
situated  for  knowing  the  truth.  He  was  born  about 
the  time  when  our  Redeemer  died,  and  was  therefore 
a  contemporary  of  the  Apostles.  He  was  a  priest,  and 
must  have  been  perfectly  at  home  in  the  Ecclesiastics 


68  CANON    OF    THE 

of  that  age;  not  to  mention  that  he  had  constant 
access,  to  the  temple,  where  an  authentic  copy  of  the 
Scriptures  was  deposited.  His  statement  is  the  fol- 
lowing : 

'•  We  have  not  among  us  innumerable  books  which 
contradict  each  other;  but  only  twenty-two  which 
contain  the  history  of  all  past  time,  and  are  justly 
held  to  be  divine.  Five  of  these  are  from  Moses  ; 
they  contain  laws  and  accounts  of  the  human  race^ 
from  its  creation  till  the  time  of  his  death,  compre- 
hending a  period  of  three  thousand  years.  From  the 
death  of  Moses  to  Artaxerxes,  who  after  Xerxes 
reigned  over  the  Persians,  the  prophets  who  lived 
after  Moses  have  related,  in  thirteen  books,  what 
happened  in  their  time.  The  other  four  books  con- 
tain hymns  to  God,  and  rules  of  life  to  men.  Since 
Artaxerxes,  up  to  our  time,  every  thing  has  been 
recorded ;  but  these  writings  are  not  considered  so 
worthy  of  credit  as  those  written  earlier,  (i.  e.  before 
the  time  of  Artaxerxes),  because  after  that  time  there 
was  no  regular  succession  of  prophets.  What  faith 
we  attribute  to  our  Scriptures,  is  manifest  in  our  con- 
duct. For  it  is  innate  with  all  Jews,  to  hold  these 
books  to  be  the  word  of  God.  and  to  firmly  sjand^  by 
them,  nay  die,  if  necessary,  in  their  defence." 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  in  this  remarkable  passage 
he  does  not  enumerate  the  books  more  particularly 
But  we  know  perfectly  what  the  number  "  twenty- 
two"  included.     It  was  an  arrangement  universally 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  69 

adopted ;  and  from  the  Talmud  and  early  Christian 
writings,  we  discover  that  it  comprised  all  the  wri- 
tings of  our  present  canon.  Besides,  he  hi  his  wri- 
tings, actually  quotes  from  them  all,  excepting  Pro- 
verbs, Ecclesiastes,  Song  of  Solomon,  and  Job.  Mark 
also,  the  judgment  he  pronounces  on  the  Hellenistic 
or  Hebrew  Greek  compositions,  which  are  now  known 
by  the  name  of  '=  Apocrypha  ;"  for  to  them  he  un- 
doubtedly refers,  as  they  were  all,  by  the  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  warmest  friends,  written  after  the  time 
of  Artaxerxes.  "They  are  not  of  equal  authority 
with  those  before  them." 


,  PHILO,    A.D.  41.  ALSO  CONTEMPORARY    WITH    THE 
APOSTLES. 

Happily,  we  have  another  Jewish  witness,  who 
lived  at  the  same  time.  Philo  resided  in  Alexandria, 
the  metropohs  of  Egypt.  His  testimony  is  most  de- 
cided, in  favor  of  our  present  canon.  He  does  not  in- 
deed give  a  formal  catalogue,  but  throws  out  in  passing, 
observations  which  clearly  show  his  opinion.  ,  The 
only  books  of  which  he  makes  no  use,  are  Ruth, 
Nehemiah,  Chronicles,  Esther,  and  Lamentations. 

That  he  was  acquainted  with  the  Apocryphal  books, 
Ecclesiasticus,  Baruch,  Tobit,  (fcc.  (fcc,  is  certain:  for 
he  borrows  phrases  from  them.  But  not  in  a  single 
instance  does  he  use  them  as  authority,  or  even  quote 
them.  This  fact  speaks  volumes.  That  he  should  be 
acquainted  with  these  writings,   aud   yet   studiously 


70  CANON    OF    THE 

avoid  appealing  to  them,  when  he  wishes  (o  estabhsh 
his  opinions, — while  abounding  in  quotations  from  the 
others,  is  perfectly  inexplicable  on  every  other  suppo- 
sition but  one  ;  viz.,  that  he  did  not  rank  them  among 
the  Scriptures  which  his  nation  regarded  as  holy,  and 
divine. 


The  next  witness  we  cite,  is  a  venerable  Christian 
Bishop,  who  lived  fifty  or  sixty  years  after  the  Apos- 
tles ;  and  travelled  into  the  East,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  ascertaining  from  the  Jews  themselves,  the 
contents,  and  number,  of  their  sacred  books.  He  thus 
states  the  result. 

"  Melito  to  his  brother  Onesimus,  greeting  :  Where- 
as from  your  great  earnestness  for  the  Word,  you 
have  often  wished  to  have  selections  from  the  law  and 
the  prophets,  which  relate  to  our  faitli,  and  to  have 
an  accurate  account  of  the  ancient  books,  how  many 
they  are  in  number,  and  what  is  their  order:  I  have 
endeavored  to  effect  this.  As  I  was  journeying  in  the 
East,  I  came  to  the  place  where  these  things  were 
clearly  exhibited,  (probably  one  of  the  Jewish  Colleges 
of  theology),  accurately  ascertained  the  books  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  send  you  a  catalogue.  They  are 
called  as  follows.  Genesis,  Exodus,  Leviticus.  &c.  &c. 
The  catalogue  need  not  be  given,  as  it  is  precisely  the 
same  with  our  own,  excepting,  that  the  two  smallest 
portions,  Nehemiah  and  Esther  are  included  in  Ezra, 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  71 

to   which  they  stand  closely  related  in  their  subject 
matter.     Not  one  Apocryphal  hook  is  named. 

THE    TALMUD,    CENTURY    III. 

This  great  body  of  Jewish  traditional  law,  which 
represents  the  opinions  of  the  nation  at  the  time  of  its 
composition,  and  many  ages  previous,  gives  a  full  list 
of  the  canonical  writings.  After  dividing  them  into 
three  general  classes,  viz.,  '•  the  Law — the  Propliets — • 
and  the  Chetubim  or  Miscellaneous  books,"  it  proceeds 
to  name  each,  separately :  and  the  list  is  precisely 
that  contained  in  the  first  page  of  our  Bibles.  It  con- 
tains not  a  trace  of  any  Apocryphal  writing. 

CONCLUSION. 

We  might  go  on,  and  cite  the  enumerations  of 
Origen,  Jerome,  Athanasius,  Cyril,  and  others,  living 
within  the  first  four  centuries.  But  it  would  be  a 
wearisome  repetition  ;  for  with  the  exception  of  one 
careless  blunder  of  Origen,  they  are  the  very  same, 
and  agree  with  our  own.  They  all  reject  the  Apoc- 
ryphal books,  which  Jerome  expressly  names,  for  the 
purpose  of  excluding  them.  "  Every  one  but  these 
(he  says,  referring  to  his  catalogue)  is  to  be  placed 
among  the  Apocr3^pha."  Therefore,  the  "  Wisdom  of 
Solomon"  as  it  is  called,  "The  book  of  Jesus,  tlie  son 
of  Sirach,  and  Judith,  and  Tobit,  are  not  in  the 
CanonP 


72  CANON    OF    THE 

We  close  with  saying-,  that  if  any  truth  can  be 
estabUshed  by  evidence,  it  is,  that  during  three  hui> 
dred  years  subsequent  to  the  birth  of  Christ,  our  Old 
Testament,  as  at  present  acknowledged  by  all  except 
the  church  of  Rome,  w^as  universally  recognized,  to  be 
a  true  and  perfect  collection  of  the  divine  writings  of 
the  ancient  osconomy.  The  evidence  possesses  a  com- 
pleteness, of  which  not  many  historical  facts  so  far 
removed  from  us  in  time,  can  boast.  It  is  proved  also 
b}^  arguments  which  cannot  be  resisted  or  evaded, 
that  Christ  and  his  Apostles,  endorsed  this  collection — 
adopting  it,  without  addition  or  alteration.  Two  of 
their  contempories,  Jews  by  birth  and  religion,  tell  us, 
w^hat  it  w^as,  and  their  testimony  is  sustained  in  every 
part,  by  a  succession  of  pious  and  learned  men,  from 
the  first  century  to  the  fourth.  If  any  man  can  still 
harbor  a  suspicion,  that  the  Bible  of  our  Redeemer,  is 
not  the  Bible  in  present  use  by  Protestant  churches 
not  only  in  our  own  land  but  throughout  the  world, 
let  him  play  the  Sceptic  on  all  matters,  w4iich  do  not 
come  under  his  personal  observation. 

APOCRYPHA. 

In  adducing  the  preceding  testimon}-, — frequent 
reference  has  been  made,  to  certain  books,  for  which  a 
claim  has  been  set  up  by  the  Catholic  church,  but 
w^hich,  for  good  reasons,  Protestants  have  branded 
with  the  name  '•  Apocryphal."'  They  are  ten  in  num- 
ber ;  viz.,  Baruch,  Ecclesiasticus,  Wisdom  of  Solomon, 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  7S 

Tobit,  Judith,  the  two  books  of  Maccabees,  Additions 
to  Esther,  Song  of  the  three  Children,  Susannah, 
Bell  and  the  Dragon.  The  utter  vanity  of  their  pre- 
tentions has  been  shown  by  the  entire  silence  of  Christ 
and  his  Apostles — by  the  silence  of  Joseph  us,  Philo, 
and  the  Talmud — and  by  their  exclusion  from  the 
catalogues  of  all  the  Christian  fathers,  of  the  first  four 
centuries.  All  this,  seems  perfectly  clear  and  de- 
cisive. Yet  the  question  will  naturally  occur  to  the 
student,  how.  under  these  circumstances,  they  obtained 
such  currency  among  Christians^  as  to  make  any  claim 
at  all !  We  shall  answer  this  inquiry,  by  giving,  in  a 
few  words,  their  history. 

As  to  the  time  in  which  they  were  written,  there  is 
proof  on  every  page,  that  they  belong  to  the  latter  age 
of  Jewish  literature,  which  commenced  a  little  after 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  about  three  hundred 
years  before  the  advent  of  our  Lord.  In  consequence 
of  various  favorable  circumstances,  a  new  impulse 
was  given  at  this  period  to  Hebrew  genius  :  and  many 
respectable  efforts  w^ere  made  by  it,  in  different  kinds 
of  composition.  The  language  employed,  was — in 
Palestine,  the  Chaldaic  dialect :  but  the  principal  seat 
of  this  literary  revival,  was  Alexandria,  in  Egypt.  In 
that  immense  city,  the  Jews  were  so  numerous,  that 
according  to  some  historians,  they  constituted  nearly 
half  of  the  whole  population.  All  these,  spoke  the 
Greek  language,  and  adopted  to  some  extent  the 
Greek  manners,  from  which  circumstance,    they    re- 


74  CANON    OF    THE 

ceived  the  name  of  ''  Hellenists."  or  Grecizers.  Hav- 
ing become  somewhat  refined  by  constant  intercourse 
witli  tlieir  pohslied  neighbors,  they  contracted,  as  has 
been  aheady  stated,  a  fondness  for  books,  and  writers 
soon  appeared  to  gratify  their  taste. 

Such  was  the  origin  of  the  "  Apocrypha."  It  is 
nothing  more  or  less,  than  the  remains  of  that  Hell- 
enistic or  Jewish  Greek  literature,  which  flourished  in 
I  Alexandria,  within  the  period  of  three  hundred  3^ears 
[before  the  bij-th  of  Christ.  There  is  not  the  least  rea- 
soti  to  believe,  that  the  Jews  thought  of  comparing 
them  to  Canonical  Scriptures.  This  blunder,  was 
committed  by  Cltristians^  and  it  took  place  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner.  In  the  third  century  before  Christ, 
some  learned  men  favored  their  countrymen  in  Alex- 
andria, with  a  Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, which,  from  the  supposed  number  of  its  authors, 
was  called  the  '-'Septuagint,"  or  Version  of  the  Sev- 
enty. It  was  cordially  w^elcomed:  Every  Jew  would 
have  a  copy,  and  for  convenience  sake,  he  would  at- 
tach to  it  the  writings  of  which  we  are  giving  an 
account,  that  he  might  have  a  complete  religious 
library  in  one  roll  or  volume.  The  practice  was  not 
without  its  advantages;  and  in  the  case  of  the  Jews 
themselves,  who  well  knew  their  canon,  w^as  followed 
by  no  bad  consequences.  But  when  the  Septuagint, 
thus  crammed  with  foreign  matter,  came  into  the 
hands  of  Christians,  the  important  distinction  between 
divine  and  human  productions,  was  often  overlooked  : 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  75 

as  it  might  be  with  us,  if  the  custom  prevailed  of  bind- 
ing up  old  Bun3-an's  "  Pilgrim,''  or  any  other  such 
pious  composition  with  the  sacred  vokniie.  We  need 
not  be  surprised  therefore,  if  even  a  good  Christian 
Bishop,  is  sometimes  found  nodding, — and  quoting  his 
Bunyan,  instead  of  his  Bible. 

In  this  state,  things  remained,  until  the  middle  of 
the  fourth  century;  the  catalogues  and  learned  opinion 
being  always  right ;  while  the  practice^as  occasion- 
ally loose,  and  wrong.  At  this  time,  the  first  symptom 
appears  of  a  disposition  to  give  them  a  place  in  the 
Canon ;  which  w^as  actually  done  in  the  Council  of 
CarthagCj  A.  D.  397.  After  this,  they  met  with  gen- 
eral acceptance  ;  which  however  will  excite  no  sur- 
prise in  those  w4io  are  acquainted  with  ecclesiastical 
history.  In  other  respects  beside  the  corruption  of  her 
rule  of  faith,  was  that  epoch  the  beginning  of  sorrows 
to  the  Church. 

Nothing  occurs,  worthy  of  notice  concerning  them,^ 
until  the  Reformation.  We  may  well  suppose,  that 
the  men  w4io  led  the  vanguard  of  the  great  army  of 
witnesses  for  the  truth,  w^ould  inquire  with  no  little 
anxiet}^,  into  the  purity  of  its  fountains ;  and  the  re- 
sult was  what  might  have  been  expected.  They  dis- 
carded the  Apocrypha,  and  returned  to  the  good  old  \ 
Jewish  canon  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 


76 


CANON    OF    THE 


§  2. —  The  Religious  Value  of  the   Old  Testament. 

We  propose  to  offer  a  few  considerations  on  the  value 
of  the  Old  Testament,  as  part  of  our  Christian  rule  of 
faith.  There  are  many  who  do  not  scruple  to  express 
themselves  on  this  point,  in  language  bordering  on 
profaneness ;  depriving  it  almost  of  every  claim  to  our 
respect,  except  as  a  venerable  reminiscence  of  anti- 
quity. Even  among  persons  who  consider  themselves 
decidedly  evangelical,  a  doubt  is  often  felt,  whetlier  it 
has  not  been  entirely  superceded  by  the  more  brilliant 
light  of  Christianity — and  whether  any  great  injury 
would  be  sustained,  if,  while  it  continued  to  be  em- 
ployed as  a  reading-book  in  the  instruction  of  youth, 
it  ceased  to  exert  authority  over  the  conscience:  a 
few  reflections,  therefore,  on  the  unspeakable  value 
and  importance  of  our  volume,  will  not  be  out  of 
place. 

.  In  discussing  this  point,  we  do  not  feel  called  to  in- 
stitute any  invidious  comparisons  between  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New.  Rivalry  can  have  no  place 
between  two  oeconomies,  which  differ  only  as  to  the 
degree  of  light,  in  which  the  same  blessed  plan  of 
saving  mercy  has  been  presented  to  mankind  :  they 
form  one  great  system,  and  their  respective  books  are 
in  the  most  perfect  and  lovely  harmony  with  each 
other.  As  the  Old  Testament  cannot  say  to  the 
New,  "  I  have  no  need  of  thee ;"  so  the  New  cannot 

-eay  to  the  Old,  '-'I  have  no  need  of  thee."     Will  it  be 


OLD    TESTAiMENT.  77 

objected  that  the  worth  and  necessity  of  the  elder 
revelation  are  impaired  by  the  fact,  that  whatever  it 
contains  of  primary  importance  is  repeated  in  the 
younger?  We  deny  the  assertion:  it  does  not  re- 
peat the  instructions  of  its  predecessor,  but  assumes 
them.  It  addresses  us  as  if  they  were  our  old  and 
familiar  acquaintances ;  and  proceeds  to  build  on  the 
already  half-built  edifice,  what  is  peculiarly  its  own. 
Perhaps  the  proposition  we  are  about  enouncing  may 
sound  much  like  paradox :  but  we  are  certain  of  its 
truth.  It  is,  that  the  New  Testament,  without  the 
Old,  is  as  imperfect  a  revelation  as  the  Old  without 
the  New.  What  immense  masses  of  instruction,  the 
most  interesting  and  precious,  are  contained  in  the 
former,  without  a  knowledge  of  which  it  is  impossible 
to  understand  the  latter;  and  yet  which  tbe  latter 
scarcely  touches,  or  treats  only  in  the  way  of  hint  and 
allusion  !     This  thought  deserves  a  full  illustration. 

DEPENDENCE  OF   THE  NEAV  TESTAMENT  ON  THE 
OLD. 

The  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Unity  and 
Spirituality,  is  a  truth  which  faith  receives,  on  the 
authority  of  our  volume :  in  the  New,  it  is  rarely  sta- 
ted, though  of  course,  always  recognized  as  the  main 
pillar  of  true  religion.  Why  should  we  wonder  at  its 
dearth  of  assertion,  when  the  most  ample  information 
was  already  imparted  to  the  world  ?  "  Hear,  O 
Israel,  the  Lord  thy  God  is  one  Jehovah,*'  forms  the 


78  CANON    OF    THE 

central  truth  of  the  ancient  oeconomy,  the  mainte- 
nance of  which,  against  a  universal  dehige  of  super- 
stition and  idolatry,  is  represented  to  be  one  principal 
design  of  God's  separating  to  himself  a  peculiar 
people.  Wonderful,  indeed  it  must  appear,  that  a 
theology  so  beautiful  and  pure,  so  sublime,  and  agreea- 
ble to  all  the  principles  of  reason,  as  that  which  adopts 
as  its  corner  stone  the  divine  unity  and  immateri- 
ality, should  have  vanished  from  the  minds  of  men, 
and  given  place  to  a  foul  and  corrupting  polytheism  ! 
/But  such  was  the  fact.  Let  us  adore  the  goodness 
of  God  in  providing  a  remedy,  by  lighting  up  at  so 
early  a  period  the  lamp  of  truth  on  the  sacred  hills  of 
Palestine,  where  it  shone  with  unceasing  radiance,  and 
gradually  enlarged  its  horizon,  until  it  was  lost  in  the 
more  dazzhng  splendor  of  the  sun  of  righteousness. 

To  the  same  source  we  must  betake  for  authentic 
information  concerning  the  creation  and  origin  of  all 
things :  here,  also,  the  New  Testament  points  back  to  its 
predecessor,  and  commits  us  to  its  infallible  guidance. 
The  light  of  nature,  indeed^  when  uncorrupted,  is  able 
to  teach  us  that  the  fair  variety  of  things  around  us 
did  not  exist  from  eternity,  but  had  a  beginning.  It 
suggests,  however,  only  the  fact.  On  the  mode,  time, 
order,  with  all  the  other  circumstances  which  are 
necessary  to  make  it  strike  the  imagination  and  the 
heart,  reason  in  the  maturity  of  her  powers  maintains 
a  sullen  silence.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  general 
darkness  which  followed  the  apostacy,  even  the  fact 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  79 

was  forgotten  :  the  Gentile  world  knew  as  little  of 
the  creative  power  of  God,  as  his  unity  and  spiri- 
tuality. The  vulgar,  bUndcd  by  their  poets,  thought 
that  the  world  was  eternal,  or  the  work  of  chance ; 
The  philosopher  either  acquiesced  in  the  absurdity, 
or  heating  his  brain  with  fantastic  speculations,  gave 
birth  to  absurdities  yet  more  monstrous.  It  was 
necessary  therefore,  that  a  voice  should  come  forth 
from  the  heav^enly  sanctuar}',  to  teach  us  that  "the 
things  which  are  seen,  were  not  made  of  things  that  do 
appear."'  In  the  cosmogony  of  Moses,  we  have  every 
thing  which  a  reasonable  curiosity  could  desire  on 
this  great  subject;  and  the  knowledge  is  communi- 
cated in  such  a  manner  as  to  purify  the  heart,  and 
call  into  action  its  best  affections.  Who  can  read  the 
first  two  chapters  of  Genesis  without  prostrating  him- 
self before  that  great  being,  "who  spoke  and  it  was 
done,  commanded  and  it  stood  fast:"  and  when  he 
reads  of  the  ample  provision  made  for  the  happiness 
of  his  creatures,  who  can  forbear  exclaiming,  "  O 
Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy  works ;  in  wisdom  hast 
thou  made  them  all ;  the  earth  is  full  of  thy  riches." 
In  the  next  place,  our  volume  satisfies  all  reasona- 
ble inquiries  concerning  the  original  condition  of 
man — inquiries  which  are  not  formally  answered  in 
the  New  Testament,  for  this  plain  reason,  that  the 
need  of  it  is  superceded  by  earlier  revelations.  On 
this,  as  on  the  two  former  topics,  reason  unassisted 
by  faith  is  dumb.     There  seem,  indeed,  to  have  sur- 


80  CANON    OF    THE 

vived  ill  the  haman  iiiind  some  faint  recoliections  of 
a  happier  state  of  things  t!ian  the  present,  of  which 
the  heathen  poets  made  a  charming  use,  in  their  rep- 
resentations of  a  golden  age  :  but  these  were  dreams- 
fascinating  to  the  imagination,  rejected  by  the  under- 
standing as  baseless  chimeras.  No  man  could  believe 
on  the  testimony  of  professed  dealers  in  fiction,  a 
hypothesis  so  entirely  at  war  with  our  actual  con- 
dition ;  and  accordingly  we  find,  that  the  most  grovel- 
ling ideas  concerning  the  original  state  of  human 
nature  prevailed  among  the  heathen.  Man  was  the 
child  of  fate,  or  accident,  or  of  some  capricious  being 
a  little  superior  to  himself;  who  moulded  a  lump  of 
clay,  and  quickened  it  by  fire  stolen  from_heayen. 
His  soul  w^as  a  finer  matter ;  and  after  a  few  years, 
both  it  and  its  grosser  vehicle  must  return  to  earth, 
and  be  dissolved  into  their  original  elements. 

How  different  from  such  base-born,  brutalizing 
speculations,  the  authentic  notices  of  our  sacred 
volume !  Man  is  the  immediate  work  of  that  all- 
wise  and  almighty  Being,  who  gives  life  and  happi- 
ness to  every  thing  that  lives  !  He  was  formed  in  his 
own  image — spiritual — intelligent — immortal.  A  high 
and  glorious  destiny  was  set  before  him  ;  and  mean- 
while, until  the  prize  should  be  won,  he  was  enthroned 
vicarious  monarch  of  creation  in  that  magnificent 
grant :  "  Let  him  have  dominion  over  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  fowl  of  the  air,  and  every  living  thing,  that 
moveth  on  the  face  of  the  earth."  Such  was  human 
nature,  when  it  first  appeared  among  the  sons  of  God  ! 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  81 

Blessed  be  his  name  for  a  vohiine,  which  rescues  us 
so  completely  from  all  belittling  views  of  our  original 
character — from  the  self-contempt,  which  observation 
of  the  present  state  of  things  is  apt  to  engender !  It 
reconciles  man  to  himself,  and  enables  him  to  rejoice 
that  he  is  a  man  ! 

In  the  next  place,  it  accounts  for  the  origin  of  evil, 
and    the    existence    of  depravity.     No    problem    has 
engaged  so  much  the  attention  of  inquiring  men  as 
this,  and  none  has  been  found  so  difficult  to  solve.     A 
score  of  theories  might  be  mentioned ;  but  they  are  all 
equally  unsatisfactory.     Nothing  has  ever  been  sug- 
gested by  human  wit,  which  can  for  a  moment  stand 
in   comparison  with    the   account   of  our   venerable 
Scripture — an  account    so  perfectly  rational,  that  the 
keenest  intellect  finds  nothing  to  object,  and  so  ad- 
mirably perspicuous,  that  a  child  can  comprehend  it. 
Man  was  originally  holy,  and  happ}?^,  with  every  bias 
in    favor  of  moral  rectitude  ;    but  yet,  for  wise  pur- 
poses, left  to  the  freedom  of  his  own  will  !     He  was 
fully  able  to  stand  ;  yet  liable_to  fall !     Tempted  by  a 
being  of  superior  order,  he  yielded  to  animal  appetite, 
and  all  that  train  of  evils  succeeded,  by  nTitural  and 
just  consequence,  which   we   now    deplore !     We   do 
not   say  that   this   solution    removes    all    the    meta- 
physical difficulties  which  attend  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  evil  ;   but  it  is  perfectly  satisfactory,  as  far 
as  it  goes  :   while  it  administers   the  most  instructive 
and  solemn  lessons ! 
4 


82  CANON    OF    THE 

What  an   affecting   representation    also   does   our 
volume   give    of  the    extent    of  human    depravity! 
That  the  doctrine    referred    to   is    contained   in   the 
New  Testament,   cannot   be   doubted :    but  the    Old 
is  the  proper  fountain  of  both  proof  and  illustration. 
Here,  it  is  stated  with  an  energy  of  expression,  which 
must   impress  every    serious   mind :    here  too,    it   is 
proved  by  the  most   convincing  of  all   arguments — 
,  history,  and  facts.     What  a  shocking  array  of  crime, 
and  calamities   the  fruit  of  crime,  passes  before  us, 
when  we  follow  the  sacred  narrative  from  its  opening 
scene  to  the  Babylonian  captivity  !     How   soon   did 
violence  fill  the  earth  ;   and  iniquity  become  so  ram- 
pant, that  it  could  only  be  removed  by  an  universal 
deluge !     After  the  flood,  how  soon  did  it  reappear,  so 
that   God   was   prevented    from   inflicting   a   second 
catastrophe  only  by  the  promise,  that  he  would   not 
again  curse  the  earth  for  man's  sake.     But  it  is  need- 
less to  enlarge :   every  page   is  a  commentary  written 
in  tears  and  blood,  on  its  own  declaration,  that  "  the 
heart  is  deceitful  above  all   things,  and   desperately 
wicked."     Some  have  complained,  that  the  Old  Tes- 
tament should  abound  in  so  many  tragic  and  revolt- 
ing details  :   but  they  forget  that  the  history  of  oui\) 
race  could  not  be  otherwise.     What  is  man,  but  that 
very  being  whom  the  Bible  describes  ?    It  is  a  faithful 
mirror,  in  which  we  see  our  own  character:   if  the 
image  be  foul,  let  us  attribute  it  to  the  true  cause;  and 
betake  to  the  cleansing  fountain  of  divine  grace. 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  83 

The  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement  is  another  of 
the  great  truths  contained  in  our  vokuiie — which  the 
New  Testament   assumes,    rather   than  teaches.     It 
everywhere,  indeed,  represents  the  Son  of  God  as  dying 
in  the  character  of  a  substitute  for  the  guilty  ;   but  in 
such  a  way,  as  to  indicate  that  its  reader  is  aheady 
familiar  with  the  idea.     Take   away  from  Scripture 
that  portion  which  teaches  the  origin  of  sacrifices,  and 
the  institution  of  them  as  the  basis  of  all  acceptable 
worship  to  God,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that  you 
inflict  on  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  the  Redeemer's 
blood,  a  mortal  wound.     The  modern  adversaries  of 
the  truth  feel  this.     They  perceive  that  the  doctrine 
of  vicarious  suffering,  pervades  the  Old  Testament, 
from  Genesis  to  Malachi ;  that  to  deny  it  is  mockery 
and  folly:   and  their  only  resource  is,  to  decry  these 
precious  records,  as  crammed  with  Jewish  fable  and 
superstition  :   a  precious  confession,  that  to  get  rid  of 
atonement,  they  must  join  hands  with  the  open  in- 
fidel. 

Equally  valuable  are  its  teachings,  respecting  the 
vital  doctrine  of  our  depend ance  on  the  Holy  Spirit. 
No  truth  is  more  prominently  held  forth  in  the 
sublime  theology  of  the  Hebrews  than  this.  In  it, 
God  is  all  in  all:  he  not  only  moves  amidst  the 
scenes  of  external  nature,  riding  on  the  whirlwind, 
sending  down  his  rain  and  fruitful  seasons,  and  caus- 
ing the  grass  to  grow  for  the  service  of  man ;  but  he 
is  ever  present  with  the  souls  that  he  has  made.     The 


84  CANON    OF    THE 

hearts  of  men  are  represented  as  being  in  his  hand, 
and  he  directs  them  hke  rivers  of  water.  All  excel- 
lent endowments  of  mind,  all  aspirations  after  the  fair 
and  good,  all  eminence  in  wisdom,  political  virtue 
and  even  secular  art,  are  ascribed  to  the  operation  of 
the  ever-acting,  all-pervading  Ruah  Jehova  !  When 
we  open  the  New  Testament,  therefore,  we  are  fully 
prepared  for  the  same  great  truth :  we  are  not  sur- 
prised to  hear  that  every  good  and  perfect  gift  cometh 
down  from  the  Father  of  lights  :  we  are  not  surprised 
at  being  told,  that  "  unless  a  man  be  born  of  water  and 
the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God :"  nor 
to  find  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  "  bowing  his 
knees  before  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that 
he  would  grant  us  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory, 
to  be  strengthened  with  might,  by  his  spirit,  in  the 
inner  man."  What  a  comment  on  the  Master's  de- 
claration, that  "he  came  not  to  destroy  the  law  and 
the  prophets — that  he  came  not  to  destroy,  but  to 
fulfil !"  With  what  exquisite  emotions  must  the  pious 
Jew  have  discovered,  that  he  "in  whose  lips  grace 
was  poured,"  but  whom  he  had  suspected  of  a  design 
to  overturn  the  faith  of  patriarchs  and  prophets,  prof- 
fered to  his  acceptance  the  same  old  religion  so  dear 
to  his  heart,  only  purged  from  its  defects,  and  ex- 
panded into  the  perfection  of  beauty  !  Such,  we  may 
suppose,  was  the  state  of  mind  expressed  by  Andrew, 
when  he  shouted  that  memorable  declaration  to  his 
brother,  Simon  Peter,  "  We  have  found  the  Messias." 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  85 

The  discovery  merited  a  shout :  it  was  a  Bvpr^xa,  com- 
pared with  which,  that  of  the  illustrious  Sicilian  sage 
was  hut  an  infant's  bahble  :  ev(>r^xaiA.ev  tov  xp'^^'^ov ;  "  we 


HAVE  FOUND THE  CHRIST  !" 

OLD  TESTAMENT  PIETY. 

But  a  question  here  suggests  itself,  which  even  to 
well  disposed  and  candid  minds  seems  not  a  little 
perplexing.  If  the  Old  Testament  be  so  rich  in  the 
vital  and  fundamental  truths  of  our  rehgion,  how  can 
the  fact  be  explained,  that  the  writers  of  the  New 
Testament  always  represent  the  Mosaic  institute  to 
be  a  haj'd  and  burdensome  service,  which  the  people 
were  scarcely  able  to  bear?  It  consisted  in  bloody 
sacrifices,  oblations,  and  complicated  external  obser- 
vances, which  '•'  could  not  make  him  that  did  the  ser- 
vice, perfect,  as  pertaining  to  the  conscience ;"  and  the 
writer  to  the  Hebrews  distinctly  informs  us  that  it 
was  abrogated  on  account  of  its  '•'  weakness  and  un- 
profitableness." As  much  of  the  prejudice  concerning 
our  volume  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  is  based 
on  this  view  of  the  subject,  we  shall  bestow  on  it  a 
few  remarks. 

The  whole  diflliculty  originates  in  a  gross  miscon- 
(Ception  of  the  nature  of  the  ancient  oeconomy.  That 
the  system  which  Moses  by  divine  direction  imposed 
upon  the  people,  for  special  and  tejnporary  ends,  had 
the  character  just  described,  is  true — and  that  the 
piety  which  this  system,  left  to  its  native  workings, 


86  CANON    OF    THE 

would  generate,  is  very  difFerent  from  that  produced 
by  the  operation  of  a  pure  Christianity,  is  equally  so: 
but   they  who  think   that  the  members  of  the   old 
Mosaic  theocracy  were  restricted  to  the  former,  look 
only  on  the  surface  of  things.     They  forget,  or  do  not 
understand,  that  long  before  the  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical  organization  by   Moses,  they  had  been  placed 
under  a^io^/ier  dispensation  of  a  very  different  nature 
— that  of  faith,  of  humble  trust  in  the  forgiving  mercy 
of  God,  evincing  itself  by  love,  self-consecration,  and 
holy  obedience.     The  promise  given  to  their  father, 
Abraham,  had  a  double  aspect.     It  pledged  the  divine 
veracity,  that  a  numerous  posterity  should  issue  from 
him,  who  should  possess  the  land   of  Canaan:   but 
beside  this,  was  the  promise  of  higher  blessings,  and 
a  more  glorious  seed ;  through  whom  they  should  be 
secured,  not  only  to  him  personally,  but  to  all  of  every 
nation  who   would  be  partakers  of  his  faith.     This 
constitution,  the  Apostle,  in  Galatians  iii.  17,  tells  us, 
"  the  law  which  was  four  hundred  years  after,  could 
not  annul  nor  contravene,  so  as  to  render  the  promise 
of  no  effect."     Here — was  the  religion,  under  whose 
purifying  influences  that  holy  man  "walked,  as  seeing 
him  who  is  invisible,  kept  himself  unspotted  from  the 
world,  confessed  himself  a  pilgrim  and  a  stranger,  and 
looked  for  a  city  that  has  foundations."     This — was 
the  religion,  too,  of  all  those  noble  spirits,  of  whom  we 
have  so  glowing  a  description  in  the  eleventh  chapter 
of  the  Hebrews — of  Isaac,  of  Jacob,  of  Joseph,  of  Mo- 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  87 

ses,  of  Gideon,  of  Samuel  and  the  prophets  :  who, 
^'  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought  righteous- 
ness, obtained  promises,  of  w^hom  the  world  was  not 
w^orthy." 

If  we  want  to  know  the  name  and  nature  of  this 
rehgion  more  definitely,  the  Apostle  in  his  epistles  to 
the  Romans  and  Galatians,  furnishes  an  answer.  It 
w^as  the  religion  of  the  Gospel — it  was  a  Christianity 
before  Christ — differing  in  none  of  its  essential  princi- 
ples from  that  which  we  enjoy,  being  characterized  as 
already  said  by  the  same  reliance  on  the  grace  of  a 
pardoning  God — the  same  peace  of  conscience — the 
same  fruits  of  holiness — and  hope  of  immortality. 
The  law  of  commandments  contained  in  ordinances, 
with  its  ritual  observrances,  and  temporal  retributions, 
was  a  constitution  superinduced  for  certain  special 
purposes — but  did  not  supercede,  nor  abrogate  it :  like 
two  parallel  lines,  they  ran  together  through  the  whole 
CEConomy ;  never  interfering  with  or  jostling  each 
other ;  and  yet  so  near,  that  the  pious  servant  of  God 
could  enjoy  the  advantages  of  both,  while  the  earthly 
mind  saw  only  the  earthly.  As  an  Israelite  of  the 
natural  stock  of  Abraham — in  other  words,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  visible  theocracy,  he  had  his  duties  to  per- 
form— and  did  perform  them.  He  w^alked  in  all  the' 
commandments  and  ordinances  of  the  Lord  blameless, 
performed  his  ablutions  at  the  proper  time  and  place, 
was  ready  on  ev^ery  proper  occasion,  with  his  sin, 
trespass,  and  burnt-offering,  paid  his  tithes  to  the  last 


88  CAAON    OF    THE 

farthing,  gazed  reverently  at  the  nation's  ponliff, 
while  presiding  over  the  nation's  forms  of  worship — 
yet  as  a  mem.  a  partaker  of  Abraham's  faith  and 
exalted  hopes  of  a  spiritual  redemption,  he  knew  that 
he  had  "a  more  excellent  way:"  and  gladly  retired 
from  the  garish  scene  to  some  lonel}^  spot,  vvhere 
undisturbed  by  the  lowing  of  cattle,  or  the  clash  of 
sacrificial  knives,  he  could  pour  out  his  soul  to  Abra- 
ham's God  :  the  God,  who  not  on  this  mountain  nor 
on  that — but  everywhere,  through  the  great  cathedral 
of  iiis  universe,  is  worshipped  by  the  pure  spirit !, 
Hence  the  observation  of  our  pious  Puritan  divines, 
that  believers  of  the  old  covenant  lived  under  the 
law,  but  did  not  live  upon  the  law.  We  mistake  the 
matter  entirely,  when  in  trying  to  form  a  distinct 
conception  of  the  rehgion  of  God's  ancient  church,  we 
1  call  up  the  temple,  with  its  marble  courts,  its  stately 
\  porticoes,  and  thousand  priests  standing  in  robes  of 
white  round  the  brazen  altar  and  molten  sea.  The 
search  must  be  made  in  quite  another  direction.  We 
must  visit  the  private  dwelling — steal,  if  possible,  into 
the  sacred  vTtsQbnov,  or  chamber  of  retirement  on  the 
house-top,  where  David  panted  as  the  '-hart  after  the 
water-brooks,"  where  Daniel  ''  sought  the  Lord  by 
prayer  and  supplication  with  sackcloth  and  ashes,'' 
where  Isaiah  mingled  with  the  seraphim  before  the 
great  "high  throne" — or  we  must  get  to  the  top  of 
Horeb,  where  Elijah  talked  mournfully  with  God  over 
the  abounding  wickedness  of  his  people  1 


OLD    TESTAMENT.  89 

In  perfect  agreement  with  this,  is  a  fact  which  can- 
not escape  the  careful  reader  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  is  an  extremely  interesting  one  ;  viz.  that  in  all 
those  portions  which  exhibit  the  interior  religious  life 
of  the  people,  there  is  scarcely  an  allusion  to  levitical 
peculiarities :  it  would  seem,  that  the  moment  a 
pious  soul  felt  itself  alone  with  God,  it  shook  off  eve- 
rything low  and  terrestrial  which  belonged  to  that 
dispensation  of  forms,  forgot  even  the  Jehova  between 
the  Cherubim,  and  soared  away  to  the  presence 
chamber  of  the  upper  sanctuary.  Look  through  the 
Psalms — those  wonderful  compositions,  which  the  in- 
fidel himself,  if  possessing  one  grain  of  taste  or  moral 
discernment,  can  never  cease  admiring  for  the  rational 
and  enlightened  views,  as  well  as  pure  seraphic  devo- 
tion that  breathe  in  every  line :  is  it  speaking  too 
strongly  to  say,  that  did  we  not  know  from  other 
sources  the  existence  of  a  complicated  ritual  system 
among  the  people  by  whom  they  were  sung,  we 
would  not  believe  it ;  nay  would  almost  doub.t  its 
possibility?  No  where  do  we  find  a  hint^  that  the 
least  importance  was  attached  to  priest,  altar,  or  sac- 
rifice, except  so  far  as  they  were  institutions  to  be 
honored  for  the  sake  of  their  author.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising then,  that  these  old  Psalms  continue  to  be  the 
principal  hymn-book  of  the  church.  Though  muti- 
lated and  most  imperfectly  represented  in  the  poetical 
versions  she  employs,  they  possess  a  charm,  which  is 
felt  and  acknowledged  by  every  Christian  heart: 
4* 


90  CANON    OP    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT. 

Cowper,  Watts,  and  Montgomery,  may  be  dear  to  her  ; 
but  still  more  dear,  are  the  harpings  and  hallelujahs  of 
the  sweet  singer  of  Israel ! 

To  some,  this  elevated  character  of  Old  Testament 
piety,  blended  as  it  necessarily  was  in  practice  w^ith 
so  many  ceremonial  services,  may  seem  difficult  to 
explain.  But  we  do  not  think  so.  In  every  age,  God 
has  made  a  rev^elation  of  himself  to  the  human  spirit ; 
and  when  he  does  so,  the  first  discovery  it  makes,  is, 
that  he  himself  is  spirit,  and  that  they  who  worship 
him  must  worship  him  in  spirit,  and  in  truth.  The 
divinely  illuminated  mind  needs  no  instruction  save 
that  which  comes  from  the  depths  of  its  own  con- 
sciousness, that  the  way  of  acceptably  approaching 
Him,  is  not  by  thousands  of  rams  and  ten  thousands  of 
rivers  of  oil.  Something  very  different  is  required  to 
satisfy  its  felt  needs,  than  a  corporeal  and  local  piety 
— the  placing  on  an  altar  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and 
the  beasts  of  the  field  ;  as  if  he  who  fills  heaven  andj 
earth  w4th  his  presence,  fed  on  lambs,  or  inhaled  with/ 
gratification  the  aroma  of  a  slaughtered  calf. 

liCt  us  prize  then  the  heavenly  treasure  which  has 
been  committed  to  us,  and  with  a  deep  feeling  of 
privilege  and  responsibility,  make  ourselves  ac- 
quainted with  its  contents.  Love  to  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures  is  even  a  test  of  Christian  character : 
no  man  has  ever  drunk  deep  into  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
and  his  Apostles,  who  does  not  w4th  joy  draw  water 
from  these  w^ells  of  salvation. 


PART   II. 

THE   INTERPRETATION  OF    SCRIPTURE, 


Hejimeneutics  is  the  Science  of  Interpretation. 
Sacred  hermeneutics  has  for  its  object,  the  holy  Scrip- 
tures of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Exeg-esis  is 
the  practical  apphcation  of  the  Science.  This,  gives 
us  the  laws  —  the  former  executes  them  :  thus,  we 
speak  of  the  Exegesis  of  a  passage,  according  to 
Hermeneutical  jJrinciples. 

Before  however  engaging  in  these  studies,  the  con- 
scientious reader  of  Scripture  has  another  work  to 
perform — that  of  ascertaining  the  soundness  of  his 
volume.  Has  he  a  text  so  uncorrupted,  that  he  ma}'- 
confidently  rely  on  it  as  a  foundation  of  religious  be- 
lief? Has  no  poison  been  poured  into  the  fountain  7 
After  flowing  through  so  many  countries,  and  being 
in  constant  contact  with  so  much  intellectual  and  mo- 
ral impurity  during  the  long  period  of  three  thousand 
years,  does  it  send  forth  the  same  healing  waters  as 
when  it  first  broke  forth  ?  In  answering  these  ques- 
tions, the  learned  assert  what  is  called — the  Integrity 


92  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE.  " 

of  Scripture  ;  and  a  thorough  examination  of  it  in  all 
its  details  and  connections,  is  called — its  Criticis'in. 

The  importance  of  this  science  can  liardly  be  over- 
rated. Whether  the  Horace  and  Plutarch  that  lie  on 
our  tables,  faithfully  represent  those  distinguished  an- 
cients, is  a  question  of  small  practical  interest ;  and 
an  argument,  proving  beyond  all  doubt,  that  every 
second  page  was  an  interpolation,  would  hardly  dis- 
tress us  so  much  as  a  badly-prepared  breakfast.  But 
the  soundness  of  that  awful  document  which  contains 
the  title-deed  of  our  immortality,  must  be  viewed  in 
a  very  different  light.  No  reasonable  doubt  should 
exist  on  such  a  subject,  nor  any  pains  spared  to  know 
the  truth.  The  discussion  does  not  however  belong 
to  our  present  undertaking,  though  it  may  receive 
slight  notice  before  the  close.  That  the  text  is  in  a 
sound  state  shall  be  assumed  ;  and  we  offer  our  aid  to 
the  reader  at  the  point  of  commencing  his  duties  as 
an  interpreter. 

All  tliat  we  purpose  to  say  in  this  brief  treatise, 
shall  be  arranged  under  two  Heads  : 

I.  We  shall  lay  down  some  general  Maxims,  useful 
to  be  fixed  in  the  mind  as  a  preparation  for  the  study  ; 

II.  Give  the  rules  in  detail  by  which  we  should  be 
guided. 


OBJF.CT    OF    INTERPRETATION.  93 


MAXIM    I. 

The  object  of  Interpretation,  is  to  give  the  precise 
thoughts  which  the  sacred  ^vriter  intended  to  express. 
No  olhev  meaning  is  to  be  sought,  but  that  which  hes 
in  the  words  themselves,  as  he  employed  them  :    m  all 
cases   we  should  take  a  sense  from  Scripture,  rather 
than'brin<r  one  to  it.     This  rule  is  fundamental :  and 
yet  how  often  is  it  violated  !     Some,  will  allow  no 
other  sense  but  what  has  been  baptized  in  their  phi- 
losophy, or  abstract  notions  of  moral  fitness:  these, 
in  reading  the  Bible,  make  one  as  they  go.     Thus, 
they  nowhere  find  the  doctrines  of  the  Trm.ty,   or 
Ori..inal  Sin,  of  Atonement,  Justification  by  Faith,  or 
Di°iue  Influence:  some  even,   are  unable  to  discover 
Miracles.      Hence   the   bloody  violence   which  they 
practice  on  everything  that  comes  in  their  way.     A 
Socinian  can  read  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isa.ah, 
.vithout  perceiving  any  trace  of  Vicanous  Sufiering  ; 
can  turn  the  ■.  a„n  in  the  beginning  of  John,  in  o  the 
'^commencement  of  the  Christian  dispensation;     and 
refuses  to  the  Only  Begotten  of  the  Father,  any  higher 
diploma  than  that  of   an   accomplished  teacher   of 
mLals.     Nothing  is  too  absurd  or  arbitrary,  for  one 
,vho  brings  the  word  of  God  to  the  touchstone  of  his 
own  speculative  opinions.    To  such  a  man  it  is  no 
revelation  at  all ;    for  it  teaches  only  what  he  knows 

''oi;.,  make  it  speak  invariably  according  to  their 


94  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

theological  systems.  Whey  they  sit  down  to  interpret 
they  think  of  nothing  but  what  they  call  the  ''Anal- 
ogy of  Faith  :"  if  the  passage  be  explained  in  perfect  ac- 
cordance with  this,  all  is  well,  and  cannot  be  better, 
though  Philology  sweat  at  every  pore.  The  Analogy 
of  Faith  is  within  certain  limits  exceedingly  useful — 
but  it  has  been  carried  entirely  too  far,  and  made 
to  include  all  that  a  man  thinks  or  guesses  at 
on  the  subject  of  religion.  Undoubtedly,  there  are 
certain  truths  in  the  Bible,  which  we  are  at  Uberty 
to  assume,  and  by  which  we  may  reason  analog- 
ically concerning  the  meaning  of  dubious  passages. 
Such  are  the  doctrines  of  the  Unity  and  Perfections 
of  God,  Man's  Moral  Accountability,  the  Fall,  Re- 
demption by  Grace,  and  Divine  Influence.  Any  ex- 
position of  a  text  contradicting  these,  we  may  put 
down  at  once  as  disagreeing  with  the  Analogy  of 
Faith :  the  rule  is  a  good  one,  and  applied  in  the 
interpretation  of  all  writers.  But  surely,  we  have  no 
right  to  set  up  our  whole  system  of  religious  belief,  in- 
cluding the  minutest  of  our  sectarian  pecuharities,  as 
a  criterion  of  truth  !  This,  is  to  make  our  creed  ex- 
pound the  word  of  God,  instead  of  letting  the  word  of 
God  frame  our  creed,  and  establishes  a  principle  as 
arbitrary  and  odious  as  that  of  the  Socinian.  Our 
ordinary  Commentaries  are  greatl}^  disfigured  with 
the  fault  just  mentioned — being  rather  dogmatical 
paraphrases,  than  expositions  of  Scripture  itself  In 
few  do  we  discover  an  unfettered  and  liberal  spirit : 


OBJECT    OF    INTERPRETATION.  95 

the  Romanist,  Lutheran,  or  Calvinist,  peeping  out  at 
the  end  of  every  hne. 

The  injury  which  sacred  Interpretation  has  re- 
ceived from  this  source  (artificial  systems  and 
creeds)  cannot  be  calculated.  Compared  with  the 
toils  of  philological  investigation,  they  are  so  easy 
to  learn,  the  occupation  of  sitting  beneath  the  in- 
structions of  an  able  and  eloquent  polemic  is  so  agree- 
able, and  the  preparation  thus  obtained  for  the  exer- 
cises of  the  pulpit  is  so  immediate  and  palpable,  that 
flesh  and  blood  can  hardly  resist  the  temptation,  to 
elevate  them  above  their  proper  level.  The  student 
giving  himself  to  them  exclusively  with  all  the  ardor 
of  his  age,  is  not  conscious  that  in  consequence  of  his 
abuse  of  them,  they  are  leading  him  right  away  from 
his  Bible!  But  it  is  often  really  so:  its  direct  rays 
seldom  reach  him ;  the  few  scattered  beams  which 
strike  his  vision,  being  refracted  and  distorted  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  by  the  very  imperfect  medium 
through  which  he  regards  them.  This  is  not  the 
fault  of  his  teacher,  whose  exhibition  of  texts  may  be 
copious  and  appropriate  ;  but  the  effect  of  his  own  in- 
dolence, which  dispenses  with  the  labor  of  critical  ex- 
amination. The  dream  is  certain  and  the  interpreta- 
tion sure,  without  betaking  to  his  dictionary  and 
grammar :  the  whole  process  of  explaining  the  most 
obscure  and  difficult  passage  in  the  word  of  God,  is  to 
observe  the  place  which  it  occupies  in  his  Turretinej 
and  Lo  ! — the  desert  smiles. 


96  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

How  weak  such  persons  must  be  in  every  thing  re- 
lating to  the  exposition  of  Scripture,  we  need  not  say 
What  is  still  worse  however,  they  contract  a  positive 
dislike  to  the  business.  It  is  foreign  to  all  their  ac- 
quired habits  and  modes  of  thinking  :  it  demands 
qualifications  to  which  they  are  strangers,  and  would 
compel  them  to  sacrifice  many  darling  conceits,  which 
enjoy  in  their  minds  the  undisputed  dignity  of 
axioms.  There  is  no  humanly  constructed  creed  of 
any  length,  which  does  not  exhibit  partial  and  con- 
tracted views.  The  truths  of  Scripture  are  not 
capable  of  exact  scientific  definition  :  they  are  the 
ideas  of  the  Divine  Mind  :  and  like  that  Mind  possess 
a  certain  boundlessness^  which  disdains  to  be  cramped 
by  artificial  moulds — resembling  the  sublime  and 
beautiful  in  nature,  which  awaken  sentiment  and  in- 
terest the  afifections,  but  are  of  too  delicate  a  texture,  to 
be  compressed  into  scholastic  arrangements.  Accord- 
ingly, we  find  the  sacred  writers  never  attempting  to 
give  a  precise  dialectic  form  to  their  statements.  The 
noble  and  affecting  thoughts  with  which  they  are  pene- 
trated undergo  no  pruning  process,  nor  are  they  sub- 
jected to  metapliysical  analysis  :  they  are  not  drawn 
out  into  regular  propositions,  but  are  poured  forth  with 
the  same  divine  negligence,  with  which  they  presented 
themselves  to  their  spiritually  enlightened  minds. 
Nothing  indeed  is  more  remarkable  than  the  artless- 
ness — the  charming  and  yet  sublime  simplicity,  which 
characterize  these  holy    men.     When   ihey   have   a 


EXPLAINED    LIKE    ANY    OTHER    BOOK.  97 

tiiuh  to  announce,  there  is  no  indication  of  holding 
back  in  order  to  give  it  with  philosophical  exactness — 
no  betrayal  of  a  fear,  that  unless  infinite  care  be  taken, 
it  will  not  dovetail  with  some  other  truth  that  has 
been  announced  previously,  giving  a  writer  the  appear- 
ance of  a  man  treading  among  pit-falls  and  spring- 
guns.  They  walk  with  a  bold  freedom,  of  which  every 
movement  proves  their  consciousness  ;  shoving  aside  in 
their  onward  march,  the  whole  troop  of  collaterals, 
trampling  on  contradictions,  and  anxious  only  to  ex- 
press themselves  on  the  subject  immediately  before 
them,  with  appropriate  energy.  The  man  who  under- 
takes to  interpret  them,  must  catch  their  spirit  in  this 
respect,  or  they  will  receive  small  justice  at  his  hands. 


•  MAXIM    II. 

The  same  method  must  he  followed  hi  expounding' 
Scripture^  lohich  we  employ  in  sear  chin  gout  the  mean- 
ing of  other  hooks.  It  was  indited  to  men  ;  it  speaks 
to  men,  in  the  language  of  men  ;  and  was  understood  by 
those  to  whom  in  ancient  times  it  was  addressed,  as  they 
understood  any  other  communication.  The  design  of 
God  in  giving  it,  was  to  communicate  certain  ideas — 
in  order  to  which,  he  must  speak  to  us,  just  as  do 
others.  Words  call  up  ideas,  not  by  any  native  signi- 
ficance, but  by  compact,  and  every  one  in  speaking  is 


98  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

supposed  to  conform  to  the  bargain.  If  he  does  not, 
but  employs  language  in  a  sense  different  from  that 
established  by  common  use,  he  is,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  a  Covenant  Breaker.  In  reading  Scripture, 
therefore,  we  are  to  use  the  same  appliances  and  aids 
employed  in  other  cases.  Inspiration  gives  it  no 
special  privileges :  rather  may  we  suppose,  that  a 
revelation  of  God's  will  to  the  great  world  of  mankind, 
must  be  peculiarly  susceptible  of  popular  interpretation, 
and  positively  require  it.  This  rule  sweeps  away  at 
once  a  host  of  errors  :  we  shall  specify  two. 

1st.  That  of  the  Papists,  who  contend  that  the  Ex- 
position of  Scripture  is  entirely  sui  generis^  and  super- 
natural— being-  committed  to  Holy  Mother  Church, 
consisting  of  the  Pope,  Decrees  of  Councils,  and  the 
ancient  Fathers.  The  pretension  is  rejected  by  all 
sound  Protestants  with  disgust.  While  we  say  that 
the  Bible  is  the  book  of  God,  we  affirm  with  equal 
emphasis,  that  it  is  the  Book  of  Man,  and  can  be  un- 
derstood by  man  in  the  use  of  the  ordinary  means. 
We  also  affirm  that  Holy  Mother,  with  her  Councils 
and  Fathers,  has  given  too  many  proofs  of  something 
worse  than  mere  fallibility,  to  be  entrusted  with  the 
authoritative  exposition  of  it.  The  Patristic  interpre- 
tations of  Scripture  are,  with  a  few  exceptions,  con- 
temptible. Jerome,  Theodoret,  and  Chrysostom,  are 
all  that  a  modern  can  quote,  and  absurdities  of  every 
kind  are  found  even  in  them :  they  were  all  ignorant 
of  Hebrew,  except  Jerome,  and  the  later  Fathers  knew 


THE    SENSE    IS    "  ONE."  ^ 

little  of  Greek.  When  they  used  citations  in  con- 
troversy, they  took  anytliing  (as  Jerome  himself  ac- 
knowledges) which  seemed  likely  to  confound  their 
opponents ;  and  there  was  scarcely  one,  who  did  not 
prefer  an  allegorical  explanation,  or  some  frigid  and 
far-fetched  conceit,  to  the  plain  sense  of  a  passage. 

2dly.  The  errors  of  Fanatics  and  Enthusiasts  ;  such 
as  (Quakers  and  Swedenborgians,  who  boast  of  certain 
immediate  revelations,  which  they  call  the  "  Word  of 
God  within J^  This  interior  light  is  the  supreme  rule, 
which  entirely  dispenses  with  every  thing  else — with 
the  knowledge  of  languages,  philosophy,  logic,  and 
common  sense.  With  it,  every  shoe-black  is  abund- 
antly qualified  to  expound  all  mysteries :  without  it, 
"  all  the  learning  in  the  world,"  says  the  famous  Bar- 
clay, "will  only  make  hght  darkness,  and  turn  the 
truth  into  a  lie."  How  the  Bible  fares  in  such  hands, 
their  writings  show.  Yet  it  would  be  folly  to  reason 
with  such  people.  They  are  above  reason  :  theirs,  is 
the  little  Goshen  where  all  true  light  is  found  :  dark- 
ness blacker  than  that  of  Egypt  covers  the  whole  world 
without. 


MAXIM    III. 


The  sense  of  Scripture  is  (in  general)  one  :  in  other 
words,  ice  are  not  to  assign  many  ineanings  to  a 
passage.     Words  indeed,  have  a  variety  of  significa- 


100  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

lions  ;  but  they  cannot  have  this  variety  at  the  same 
time.  A  single  sense  must  be  chosen,  in  doing  which, 
one  expositor  may  differ  from  another,  and  it  may  be 
dubious  which  is  right.  They  cannot,  however,  be 
both  right :  if  we  approve  the  one,  we  must,  if  they 
really  differ,  disapprove  the  other. 

The  transgressors  of  this  rule,  are  the  Mystics  and 
Allegorists.  Their  fundamental  maxim  is  not  unlike 
that  of  the  Papists ;  for  they  consider  the  Bible  to  be 
a  book  so  different  from  others,  that  its  depth  of  mean- 
ino"  can  never  be  reached  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  in- 
terpretation. Being  from  God,  they  insist  that  it  must 
in  all  respects  be  worthy  of  him,  and  contain  a  rich- 
ness of  thought  suited  to  his  infinite  understanding. 
Hence  iheir  favorite  maxim;  Yerha  Scripturm 
tantiim  iihique  signijicare,  quantum  signijicare  joos- 
S2int :  i.  e.  whatever  a  word  7?ia]/  mean,  it  does  mean. 
A  single  noun  could  thus  have  twenty  different  senses 
in  the  same  place,  and  refer  to  twenty  different  things. 
This  odd  theory  w^as  a  great  favorite  with  the  Jews 
in  the  time  of  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  who  occa- 
sionally allegorized  to  please  them,  though  by  no 
means  frequently.  See  an  instance  in  Gal.  iv.  22; 
where  the  Apostle  makes  Sarah  and  Hagar  types  of 
the  two  covenants.  So  far  did  the  Jews  carry  their 
love  of  it,  that  their  rabbis  all  maintained — "  There 
is  not  a  letter  in  Scripture,  or  apex  of  a  letter,  which 
does  not  contain  whole  mountains  of  meaning." 
They  even  had  a  science  or  art,  called  the  Caballa 


THE    SENSE    IS    '' ONE.  '  101 

which  by  changing,  disjoining,  or  transposing  letters, 
or  by  calculating  their  value  as  arithmetical  signs, 
elicited  worlds  of  profound  mystery. 

The  Jews  communicated  tfieir  mania  to  the  old 
Christian  Fathers,  whose  writings  abound  in  mystical 
expositions  of  all  kinds.  Everything  in  sacred  his- 
tory, w^as  metamorphosed  into  type  and  symbol.O  ri- 
gen  denied  even  the  literal  truth  of  history,  contending 
that  its  whole  and  only  meaning  was  allegorical. 
Thus  he  pronounced  it  absolutely  absurd*  to  suppose, 
that  the  world  was  created  in  six  days  :  the  creation 
signified  the  renovation  of  the  soul  by  the  Gospel,  and 
the  six  days  intimate  that  it  is  carried  on  by  degrees. 
Israel  in  Egypt,  he  makes  to  be  the  soul  living  in  er- 
ror ;  and  the  seven  plagues  are  its  purgations  from 
various  evil  habits — the  frogs  denoting  loquacit}^,  the 
flies  carnal  appetites,  the  boils  pride  and  arrogance, 
&c.  This  mode  of  expounding  continued  through 
the  different  ages  of  the  church,  and  has  been  formal- 
ly adopted  by  the  Papists,  who  recognize  three  dif- 
ferent senses  besides  the  literal,  viz.  the  allegorical, 
tropological,  and  analogical.  Nor  was  it  put  down 
by  the  reformation.  Cocceius,  a  celebrated  Dutch  di- 
vine, carried  it  almost  as  far  as  Origen  did.  He  held 
that  the  whole  of  the  Old  Testament  was  an  antici- 
pative  history  of  the  Christian  church,  containing  a 
full  recital  of  every  thing  which  should  happen  to  the 
end  of  time.  Even  the  Lord's  Prayer  is  a  prophe- 
sy, and    its  six  parts  denote   six  great  epochs  in  his- 


102  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

toiy.  Every  good  man  in  the  Old  Testament,  is  a 
type  of  Christ,  or  his  apostles  :  Every  bad  man,  of 
the  devil,  or  the  unbelieving  Jews. 

Such  schemes  .are  to  be  utterly  rejected.  They 
destroy  all  certainty  of  interpretation  :  taking  the 
ground  from  beneath  our  feet ;  and  making  Scripture 
a  nose  of  wax  which  every  one  may  twist  into  the 
shape  that  pleases  him  best.  Thomas  Woolston,  a 
celebrated  English  infidel,  attacked  Christianity  itself 
with  these  arms,  insisting  that  the  narratives  of  Christ's 
miracles  were  not  designed  to  be  histories,  but  are 
pure  allegories.  Volney,  a  French  waiter,  has  turned 
the  evangelic  history  into  a  system  of  astronomy — 
Christ  being  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  twelve  apos- 
tles the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac.  Without  affirm- 
ing that  there  are  no  secondary  senses  in  Scripture 
we  believe  that  (the  phrase  being  properly  understood) 
there  are  very  few.  Generally,  the  meaning  is,  as  in 
other  books,  one;  and  that  lies  near  the  surface.  Who 
ever  heard  of  a  man  in  common  conversation,  attach- 
ing different  significations  to  the  words  he  used — un- 
less indeed  he  was  playing  a  game  at  riddles,  or  dou- 
ble entendres  ? 


MAXIM    IV. 


The  interpretation  of  Scripture  requires  suitable 
preparation.     The  languages  in  which  it  is  written, 


SUITABLE    PREPARATION.  103 

are  strange — difficult;  and  both  are  dead.  In  every 
page,  there  are  references  to  times,  places,  transactions, 
with  which  we  must  be  well  acquainted.  The  history 
of  the  world  is  given,  with  a  few  breaks  and  interrup- 
tions, from  the  beginning  to  the  four  thousandth  year- 
Not  only  are  there  accounts  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  but 
of  many  others  with  whom  war  or  peaceful  intercourse 
brought  them  in  connection  ;  Syrians,  Egyptians,  As- 
syrians, Persians,  Greeks,  Romans  :  cities,  lakes,  rivers, 
hills,  valleys,  are  continually  mentioned.  So  are 
natural  productions — as  plants,  trees,  precious  stones, 
animals.  Hence  arises  the  necessity  of  being  well 
acquainted  with — 

1st.  Hebrew  and  Greek :  and  also  the  cognate  lan- 
guages, Chaldee  and  Latin. 

2d.  History,  civil  and  political ;  especially  of  the 
Israelites,  Egyptians,  Phoenicians,  Assyrians,  and 
Greeks.  If  the  student  has  no  time  for  extensive  in- 
vestigation, he  should  at  least  make  himself  master  of 
Josephus  and  Prideaux,  who  are  accessible  to  all,  and 
full  of  entertainment  as  well  as  instruction. 

3d.  Chronology  ;  which  ascertains  the  dates  and 
order  of  events.  There  is  great  uncertainty  and  diffi- 
culty in  this  science,  but  it  must  not  be  neglected.  A 
general  knowledge  of  its  principles,  and  a  clear  view 
of  the  great  epochs  into  which  sacred  and  profane  his- 
tory is  divided,  with  an  ability  to  refer  every  important 
transaction  to  its  proper  time,  is  indispensable.  Chro- 
nology is  one  of  the  eyes  of  history  ;  the  other  is — 


104  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE, 

4th.  Geography.  That  of  Palestine  is  of  special 
moment,  for  obvious  reasons  :  but  that  of  Eg3'pt^  Idu- 
mea,,  Arabia,  and  Mesopotamia,  must  not  be  passed 

by. 

5th.  Customs  and  manners,  or  archaiology.  These 
exercise  a  mighty  influence  on  the  ideas  of  a  people, 
and  their  mode  of  expressing  them.  There  is  in  Scrip- 
ture, a  constant  allusion  to  Hebrew  usages,  and  nearly 
all  its  tropes  are  borrowed  from  them,  in  connection 
with  the  natural  features  of  the  country. 

The  importance  of  a  sound  acquaintance  with  this 
branch  of  knowledge,  and  also  the  last,  (geography), 
cannot  be  too  deeply  impressed  on  the  mind  of  the 
student.  No  man  is  fit  to  expound  a  paragraph  in 
any  book  whatever,  unless  he  can  bring  distinctly 
before  his  mind  all  t!ie  usages  and  historical  facts,  all 
the  circumstances  of  time  and  place,  which  relate  to 
the  subject  treated.  This  is  necessary  even  to  under- 
stand it,  but  much  more  to  receive  those  strong  im- 
pressions which  excite  the  sensibility.  Every  one 
who  has  attended  to  the  laws  of  thought,  knows  how 
wonderfully  our  conceptions  are  enlivened  by  asso- 
ciation with  local  scenes  and  circumstances.  A  man 
of  general  reading  may,  at  his  fire-side,  call  up  pleas- 
ant reminiscences  of  Greece,  and  the  various  glorious 
events  recorded  in  her  history  :  but  how  tame  his 
thoughts,  compared  with  those  which  possess  the 
accomplished  scholar  who  has  trod  her  soil,  and  seen 
all  that  remains  to  her,  or  by  the  constant  perusal  of 
her  writers,  has  made  himself  as  familiar  with  every 


SUITABLE    PREPARATION.  105 

hill  and  valley,  as  if  he  had  seen  them  with  his  bodily 
eyes.  It  is  a  common  remark  of  historians  concern- 
ing the  Christians  of  the  middle  ages,  that  their  devo- 
tion was  astonishingly  increased  by  a  pilgrimage  to 
Holy  Land.  The  must  lukewarm  usually  returned 
full  of  faith  and  fervor.  This  might  be  expected. 
They  had  gone  over  the  hallowed  ground,  and  were 
able  to  form  a  distinct  picture  of  it.  They  had  walked 
the  streets  of  the  city  which  their  Divine  Saviour  had 
honored  with  his  ministrations,  and  trod  the  very 
mount  on  which  he  had  been  lifted  up  between  heaven 
and  earth.  The  vivid  idea  of  the  localities,  passed  by 
an  easy  transition  to  all  tlie  facts  and  doctrines  con- 
nected with  them,  and  the  felt  reality  of  Calvary, 
diffused  itself  over  the  sufferings  which  a  thousand 
years  before  had  been  endured  there.  In  a  word,  the 
sensible  ideas  of  time  and  place  became  so  incor- 
porated with  their  religious  belief,  as  to  form  one  com- 
plex whole — and  they  thought  as  little  of  questioning 
the  truth  of  their  creed  as  the  reality  of  their  per- 
ceptions. 

It  is  true,  that  few  of  us  may  be  able  to  test  the 
principle  just  stated  by  visiting  the  sacred  land  in  per- 
son. Much,  however,  can  be  effected  by  a  thorougli 
course  of  reading.  Let  the  student  take  into  his  hand 
'•Jahn's  Archaeology,''  with  an  Ancient  Geography 
and  Atlas,  studying  at  the  same  time  Robinson's 
"Biblical  Researches/'  he  will  be  surprised  to  find 
what  a  vivifying  and  warming  influence  they  \vill 
5 


106  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

exert,  not  only  over  his  imagination,  but  his  heart. 
The  simplest  narrative  of  Scripture  will  be  read  with 
an  enthusiastic  interest,  of  which  he  had  previously 
no  conceptions ;  and  even  its  doctrines  be  clothed  with 
a  new  attractiveness. 

6th.  Logic  and  general  literature ;  which  invigorate 
the  mind,  and  inure  to  habits  of  accurate  discrimina- 
tion. Every  study  that  improves  the  thinking  faculties 
— especially  the  judgment,  and  enlarges  our  mental 
horizon,  will  make  its  value  felt  in  explaining  the  word 
of  God.  What  blunders  have  been  committed  by  com- 
mentators, simply  because  they  did  not  know  that  they 
were  reading  poetry ;  and  who  would  not  have  been 
benefitted  by  the  discovery,  as  they  knew  nothing  of  the 
laws  of  that  kind  of  composition — their  whole  reading 
having  been  confined  to  the  mellifluous  jingle  of  Dr. 
Watts  !  The  remark  of  Cicero  concerning  the  orator, 
is  quite  as  true  of  the  sacred  interpreter  :  '-Q^uod  debet 
omnibus  disciplinis  instructus  esse."  Let  no  student  of 
theology  allow  himself  to  think,  that  when  he  occa- 
sionally, or  even  frequently,  opens  the  page  of  a  Mil- 
ton or  a  Locke,  he  is  wasting  time,  or  stealing  it  away 
from  his  proper  work, 

7th.  Above  all,  sincere  and  ardent  piety.  Without 
this,  no  learning  and  acuteness  will  secure  the  inter- 
preter from  shamefully  blundering  on  the  very  thresh- 
hold  of  his  undertaking,  nor  from  a  constant  succes- 
sion of  blunders  to  the  end.  His  heart  must  be  at- 
tuned to  his  sacred  employment — by  a  profound  con- 


SUITABLE    PREPARATION.  107 

victioii  of  ignorance  and  guilt,  by  sincere  love  to  God, 
and  a  devout  longing  toward  every  thing  that  is  holy 
and  divine ;  by  willingness  to  put  himself  absolutely 
and  without  reserve  at  the  feet  of  his  great  teacher  • 
in  short,  by  such  a  sympathy  between  his  spirit  and 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  that  he  can  enter  into  the  very 
thoughts  of  Christ,  and  expound  them   by  a  sort  of 
divine  intuition.     There  is  a  deep  philosophy,  (igno- 
rance of  which  is  the  rock  on  which  many  interpre- 
ters have  made  shipwreck),  in   the  promise:  "I  will 
put   my    laws    in   their   mind,    and    write   them   in 
their  hearts,  and  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his 
neighbor,  saying,  know  the  Lord ;  for  all  shall  know 
me  from  the  least  to  the  greatest."     The  meaning  is 
not,    that   under  the  new   and  spiritual  dispensation 
of  the  Gospel  to  which  the  promise  refers,   external 
methods  of  instruction  will  be  done  away ;  but  that  it 
^vill  be  no  more  a  hard,  up-hill  work— as  it  always 
is,  when  the  hearts  of  men  are  not  in  harmony  with 
their  employment.     In  consequence  of  the  holy  con- 
geniality of  the  inner  man  with  the  objective  revela- 
tion,   the   latter  will  be   received   with  such   ardent, 
whole-souled  affection  at  the  very  moment  of  being 
presented,  that  the  outward  teaching  will  be  scarcely 
remembered. 

Illustrations  of  this  are  found  all  around :  let  one 
example  serve.  How  slow  to  learn,  is  the  boy  whose 
tastes  and  inclinations  have  no  sympathy  with  the 
object  of  his  study !     Like  th^  ass,  he  needs  a  con- 


108  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

stant  whip,  to  maintain  a  faint  appearance  of  loco- 
motion :  even  the  tender,  all-hoping  mother  has  ceased 
to  plead  for  him,  and  concurs  in  the  universal  judg- 
ment that  he  is  an  incorrigible  dunce.  But  take  him 
from  his  ungrateful  toil,  and  task  his  energies  with 
a  work  which  interests  his  affections,  the  almost  idiot 
expands  into  a  young  intellectual  giant,  and  his  pro- 
ficiency astonishes  all  observers.  So  it  is  with  the 
true  Christian.  Before  he  experienced  the  power  of 
religion,  nothing  w^as  more  difficult  than  his  indoc- 
trination in  those  great  truths  that  form  the  life  and 
soul  of  evangelical  piety.  He  complained  that  they 
were  entirely  wanting  in  evidence,  as  well  as  devoid 
of  attraction.  He  could  not  apprehend  their  mean- 
ing :  his  memory  failed  in  the  endeavor  to  retain 
them,  and  a  sermon  in  which  any  of  them  was  dis- 
cussed, invariably  put  him  to  sleep :  no  distillation 
of  henbane  or  poppy  equalled  it  in  narcotic  virtue. 
But  how  prodigious  the  change  !  All  is  now  light, 
clearness  and  beauty.  The  doctrines  which  occa- 
sioned him  so  much  perplexity  are  now  as  easy  and 
simple  to  his  understanding,  as  they  are  refreshing  to 
his  heart.  He  scarcely  needs  a  hermeneutical  appa- 
ratus, but  at  once  drinks  them  in  with  all  the  zest 
and  facility,  with  which  the  infant — heaven-taught — 
draws  its  natural  aliment  from  the  mother's  breast. 
This  is  what  the  pious  Psalmist  alludes  to  when  he 
says,  "I  have  more  understanding  than  all  my  teach- 


USUS    LOaUENDI.  109 

ers :  he  had  jusl^before  given  the  explanation, — "Oh 
how  /  love  thy  laiv.^^ 

We   proceed   to   the  Special  Rules   which   should 
guide  us  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture. 


RULE    I. 


Carefully  mvestigate  the  Usiis  loqitendi.  By  this 
is  meant  what  the  words  literally  express,  the  custom 
of  speech.  The  meaning  of  words  is  for  the  most  part 
perfectly  arbitrary.  They  call  up  certain  ideas,  be- 
cause men  have  agreed  that  they  shall  do  so,  and  for 
no  other  reason  :  general  usage,  therefore,  is  the  great 
standard,  "quem  penes  arbitrium  est  et  jus  et  norma 
dicendi."  In  living  languages,  we  ascertain  the  usage 
from  conversation  and  personal  intercourse.  In  those 
long  since  dead,  as  the  Hebrew  and  Greek,  we  draw 


on  various  sources 


1st.  Contemporary  writers.  With  respect  to  the  Old 
Testament,  we  have  none  such — all  the  Hebrew  ex- 
tant being  contained  in  our  volume.  In  place  of  them 
w^e  have  a  tolerably  clear  and  ample  Jewish  tradition  : 
for  it  cannot  be  doubted,  that  the  rabbis  have  preserved 
with  good  fidelity  much  of  their  old  national  lan- 
guage. As  to  the  New  Testament,  we  have  all  the 
Greek  writers  from  Homer  to  Longinus  ;  though  they 


110  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

must  be  used  with  caution,  as  the  New  Testament  is 
written  in  a  Hebraistic  idiom,  and  not  in  the  classical 
language  of  Demosthenes. 

2d.  SchoUasts  and  glossographers.  These  were  men 
who  Hved  after  the  death  of  the  writers  ;  but  while  the 
language  was  still  living,  and  who  must  have  under- 
stood the  meaning  of  words  better  than  we.  Scholia, 
w^ere  short  notes  inserted  in  the  margin  of  the  work 
explained,  illustrating  some  phrase  or  turn  of  expres- 
sion. Scholia  on  the  New  Testament  are  very  nume- 
rous, and  some  of  them  have  come  down  from  remote 
antiquity.  A  noble  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
containing  a  large  collection  of  them,  has  been  pub- 
lished by  Matthai,  a  distinguished  German  professor. 
Glossaries  (from  yj^uaaa  a  form  of  speech)  are  diction- 
aries, giving  explanations  of  certain  words  arranged 
in  alphabetical  order,  and  differing  from  common 
dictionaries  in  this,  that  they  contain  remarks  on  such 
words  only  as  are  difficult,  and  obscure.  The  principal 
works  of  this  kind  are  those  of  Hesychius.  Suidas, 
Phavorinus.  and  Photius. 

3d.  Ancient  translations,  made  when  the  languages 
were  still  living.  Such  is  the  Septuagint  version  of 
the  Hebrew  Bible,  made  nearly  three  hundred  years 
before  Christ ;  when  the  language  was  well  under- 
stood, though  not  spoken  with  perfect  purity.  The 
value  of  tbis  work  to  the  e^tudent  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  well  as  the  Old,  is  incalculable:  for  without 
the  steady  light  which  is  cast  by  it  on  the  meaning 


USUS    LOaUENDI.  Ill 

and  force  of  expressions,  the  interpreter  could  scarcely 
advance  a  step.  The  Chaldee  paraphrase,  is  another 
venerable  translation  of  the  Old  Testament.  It  pre- 
sents the  views  concerning  the  meaning  of  that  part 
of  Scripture,  entertained  by  the  learned  Jews  contem- 
porary with  our  Lord  :  being  composed  a  little  before 
his  birth,  and  in  the  dialect  spoken  at  that  time  by 
the  nation.  The  old  Syriac  version  is  also  extremely 
valuable. 

4th.  Kindred  dialects.     This  source  of  aid  is  pecu- 
liarly useful  with  respect  to  that  part  of  Scripture 
which  most  needs  it— the  Old  Testament.     The  He- 
brew has  three  sisters,  so  like  her,  that  there  can  be 
no  mistake  as  to  their  common  parentage :  they  are 
the  Arabic,   Chaldaic    or  East  Armaean,  Syriac    or 
West  Armaean.     In  two  of  these— the  Syriac  and 
Arabic— there  are  numerous  writings  still  extant,  and 
the  Arabic  is  a  living  language.     The  use  of  dialects 
in  determining  the  sense  of  words,  requires  skill  and 
jud«:ment ;  as  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  precise 
signification  is  the  same  in  both,  because  they  are  sis- 
ters.    Yet  its  great  value  as   a  subsidiary,  is  gene- 
rally confessed  :    proofs  of  it  you  have  in  every  page 
of  Gesenius's  dictionary. 

5th.  Etymology;  or  the  examination  of  roots. — 
When  other  expedients  fail,  we  may  sometimes  derive 
considerable  assistance  from  tracing  an  expression  to 
its  original  element.  But  after  all,  etymology  is  slip- 
pery ground.     Words  in  the  process  of  derivation  or 


112  IXTERPRETATIOX    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

composition,  often  deviate  from  their  original  import, 
so  that  the  child  loses  nearly  all  resemblance  to  its 
parent.  Tlius  the  English  word  villain^  in  our  old 
writers  means  a  slave ;  rascal^  in  Saxon,  a  lean 
beast ;  hostis,  in  Latin,  originally  signified,  (accord- 
ing to  Cicero.)  a  stranger  ;  pagaji,  which  with  iis  is 
equivalent  to  heathen^  and  denoted  nothing  worse  in 
the  language  last  mentioned  from  which  we  obtain- 
ed it,  than  a  farmer^  or  inhabitant  of  the  country. 
■b*!]^  is  a  Hebrew  verb  signifying  to  he  holy ;  the 
noun  b^i^'  one  of  its  derivatives,  is  the  common 
term  for  'prostitute.  Two  instances  may  be  given 
from  the  New  Testament,  to  illustrate  the  danger 
of  reasoning  from  etymological  significations.  The 
verb  TTpoytrcdcrzw  is  compounded  of  the  preposition 
cTpo,  before^  and  ytvoxw,  to  know.  It  should  there- 
fore always  denote  simple  foreknowleds^e,  and  many 
Arminians  contend  that  it  does  so;  yet  whoever 
impartially  examines  the  usus  loquendi  of  the  New 
Testament,  will  see  at  once^  that  it  is  sometimes 
fully  equal  in  strength  of  meaning  to  our  Eng- 
lish word  foreordain  :  see  Rom.  ii.  2,  Acts  ii.  23,  1 
Pet.  i.  20.  The  adjective  atcoj/to,  is  commonly  used  by 
the  Greeks  for  "  eternal "  or  "  everlasting,"  and  is  the 
strongest  term  they  can  employ:  in  this  sense  it  is 
constantly  used  in  the  New  Testament,  with  perhaps 
one  or  two  exceptions.  But  the  Universalist  reminds 
us  that  it  comes  from  aii^v  an  age,  and  must  therefore 
be  translated   "  having  age;^   or  '•  enduring  for  an 


USUS    LOaUENDI.  113 

age^  So  too,  atwvfj  atuvcov  caii  mean  nothings  more 
th£ln  a  "  number  of  ages,"  thougli  in  every  case,  with- 
out a  solitary  exception,  it  expresses  proper  eternity. 

We  cannot  forbear  citing  another  example  of  de- 
serting the  established  meaning  of  words  or  phrases 
for  supposed  etymologies,  from  a  Scottish  Divine  of 
some  note,  who  has  written  on  the  Baptist  controversy. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Ewing  author  of  a  Greek  Dictionary 
and  Grammar,  dissatisfied  with  the  usual  method  of 
meeting  the  Immersionists,  undertakes  to  show  that 
the  word  baptize — so  far  from  signifying  to  "  dip"  or 
'•merge,"  properly  denotes  the  operation  of  "dropping" 
or  "  sprinkling  ;"  and  accomplishes  it  in  tlie  following 
way.  All  Greek  verbs,  being  derived  from  biliteral  roots 
(he  had  probably  heard  of  this  theory  without  under- 
standing it)  the  word  /3artT'w  of  which  ^a-Tttilia  is  a  form, 
must  be  traced  to  the  syllable  hap  or  pap^  which  is  of 
course  equivalent  to  the  English  pop.  But  j^op  is  a 
word  evidently  taken  from  nature,  and  expresses  the 
sound  of  a  drop  of  water  falling  upon  a  table.  jSaTTT-o 
therefore  means  the  same  thing,  and  represents  very 
happily  the  sprinkling  process ;  so  that  when  the 
Apostles  were  commanded  to  "go  and  disciple  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name,"  &c.  they  were 
required  in  so  many  words  to  admit  converts  into  the 
visible  church  by  bopping  or  popping  on  them — quod 
erat  deinonstrandum  !  We  would  not  take  notice  of 
a  hypothesis  so  unutterably  ludicrous,  were  it  not  cal- 
culated by  its  very  ludicrousness  to  fix  in  the  mind  an 
5* 


114  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

important  principle  of  interpretation.  We  are  far  from 
sympathizing  with  our  Baptist  friends  in  their  strong 
dishke  to  aspersion.  On  the  contrary^  we  think  that 
in  their  zeal  for  carrying  out  the  physical  idea  of  mer- 
sion,  they  forget  that  by  a  not  uncommon  extension 
of  meaning,  the  physical  act  when  employed  as  a 
mere  sj/mbol,  may  lose  much  of  its  water,  and  express 
religious  ablution  in  general ;  of  which  fair  examples 
may  be  quoted  from  the  New  Testament.  At  the 
same  time,  we  grant  that  some  of  the  arguments 
employed  by  our  writers  are  extremely  puerile,  and 
would  try  the  temper  of  persons  much  more  disposed 
to  play  the  amiable  than  our  worthy  brethren  seem  to 
be,  where  their  distinctive  practice  is  concerned. 

Nothing  can  be  more  unsafe  than  the  modes  of  pro- 
cedure referred  to  in  the  three  preceding  examples. 
Independently  of  the  fact,  that  what  we  assign  as 
the  original  signification  may  be  false  (which  the  last 
instance  strikingly  illustrates)  the  use  of  words  is  con- 
tinually fluctuating,  and  we  cannot  be  too  care- 
ful in  guarding  against  errors  from  this  source.  Yet 
they  are  common:  whole  systems  of  theology,  and 
even  natural  science,  have  been  constructed  on 
fanciful  etymologies,  by  men  whose  imaginations  out- 
ran their  judgment,  of  which  we  may  cite  Parkhurst's 
Hebrew  and  Greek  lexicons  as  an  example.  Great 
aid,  however,  may  be  derived  from  a  sober  and  skilful 
tracing  of  words  back  to  their  source :  if  it  does  not 


PARALLEL    PASSAGES.  11^ 

always  direct  to  their  present  meaning,  it  seldom  fails 
to  throw  a  happy  light  on  the  history  of  language. 

These  are  the  principal  means  of  the  "  Usus  Lo- 
quendi."  It  would  be  cruel,  however,  to  impose  upon 
all,  the  task  of  digging  into  these  deep  mines.  The 
labor  is  in  a  measure  saved  by  good  dictionaries, 
which,  if  really  good,  contain  the  results  of  such  in- 
vestigations. Happily  we  are  w^ell  supplied  w^th  Ge- 
senius  in  Hebrew,  and  Wahl  and  Bretschneider  in 
Greek :  Professor  Robinson's  Lexicon  is  also  excellent, 
combining  the  good  qualities  of  both. 


RULE    II. 


Examine  carefully  the  parallel  passages.  By 
these  are  meant,  texts  which  relate  to  the  same  sub- 
ject, teach  the  same  doctrine,  or  relate  the  same  his- 
torical fact.  They  should  be  accurately  collated,  that 
one  may  supply  light  to  the  other,  and  fill  up  what  is 
wanting  to  the  perspicuity  of  the  w4iole.  We  per- 
form this  operation  constantly — in  reading  the  most 
familiar  letter,  or  tlie  simplest  story.  Its  value  in  the 
study  and  explanation  of  scripture,  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pressed. It  not  only  enables  us  to  enter  into  the 
meaning  and  force  of  particular  expressions,  but 
places  us  on  a  commanding  eminence,  where  we  may 
survey  the  whole  field  of  divine  truth,   and   admire 


116  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

the  harmony  of  its  several  parts.  All  systematic  the- 
ology should  be  built  on  this  alone.  '^I  will  not  scru- 
ple to  assert,"  says  the  learned  Bishop  Horsley,  "  that 
the  most  illiterate  Christian,  if  he  can  but  read  his 
English  Bible,  and  will  take  the  pains  to  read  it  in 
this  manner,  (studying  the  parallel  passages)  without 
any  other  commentary  than  what  the  different  parts 
mutually  furnish  for  each  other,  will  not  only  attain 
all  that  practical  knowledge  which  is  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, but  will  become  learned  in  everything  relating 
to  his  religion.  He  may  safely  be  ignorant  of  all 
philosophy,  and  all  history,  which  he  does  not  find 
in  the  sacred  books." 

Parallels  are  of  two  kinds,  Verbal^  and  Real; 
Ve?^bal,  are  those  in  which  the  very  same  word  or 
phrase  is  used,  though  the  meaning  in  one  may  be 
much  clearer  than  in  the  other,  and  consequently 
give  light  to  it.  Thus  in  Joel  ii.  28,  God  promises 
that  he  "will  pour  cut  his  Spirit  on  all  liesh."  Doubt- 
ful how  to  understand  '-flesh  "  in  this  passage,  I  com- 
pare it  with  Gen.  vi.  12,  which  says  that  -'all  flesh 
corrupted  their  way."  As  the  whole  mass  of  man- 
kind is  here  meant,  I  feel  authorized  to  give  the  same 
extent  of  meaning  to  the  word  in  Joel.  In  Matt.  i. 
20,  the  angel  of  tbe  Lord  declares  that  Mary  shall 
•'conceive  of  the  Holy  Gliost."  Struck  with  the  pe- 
culiarity of  the  expression,  I  go  to  the  corresponding 
passage  in  Luke,  and  find  him  using  it  also,  but, 
adding  another  which  is  evidently  intended  to  be  exe- 


PARALLEL    PASSAGES.  117^ 

getical,  vizj  ''Power  of  tlie  Highest,"  Luke  i.  35:. 
The  Holy  Ghost  therefore  is  here  equivalent  to  the 
Divine  energy.  In  1  Cor.  vii.  1,  Paul  says  '•  It  is 
not  good  for  a  man  to  marry."  A  little  startled  at 
this  squinting  of  the  great  apostle  towards  monkery, 
I  look  further  down  the  chapter  for  an  explanation, 
and  find  it  in  the  26th  verse ;  '-it  is  good  for  the  pres- 
ent distress."  Marriage  is  an  excellent  thing,  but  may 
be  very  inexpedient  in  times  of  severe  persecution. 

Real  parallelism  is  a  correspondence  in  the  thought 
or  subject,  although  the  words  are  different;  and  is  still 
more  important  than  the  other.  It  is  two-fold,  his- 
torical and  doctrinal.  Historical  parallelisms  are 
those  which  occur  in  the  relation  of  matters  of  fact. 
The  four  Gospels  are  full  of  these,  and  a  careful  col- 
lation of  them  is  of  unspeakable  use  in  interpre- 
tation. One  evangelist  fills  up  the  outlines  briefly 
sketched  by  another,  supplying  some  circumstance  of 
time,  place,  or  occasion,  which  throw  a  flood  of  light 
on  the  whole  transaction.  From  a  diligent  and  minute 
comparison  of  their  accounts,  Harmonies  are  con- 
structed, which  deserve  to  be  well  studied.  There  are 
similar  coincidences  in  the  Old  Testament,  ex.  gr. 
between  the  books  of  Chronicles  and  Kings. 
■  Many  of  these  passages  offer  serious  difliculty  to 
the  interpreter,  in  consequence  of  a  strong  appearance- 
of  inconsistency  and  contradiction.  The  greater  num- 
ber however,  yield  readily  to  diligent  and  careful  scru- 
tiny— originating  in  some  misconception  of  the  reader, 


118  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

or  in  false  readings  of  the  text ;  which  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament are  numerous.  By  taking  a  correct  view  of 
the  subject,  scope,  and  connection  of  each  passage,  and 
observing  the  style,  with  other  peculiarities  of  the 
writers,  discrepancies  which  at  first  appeared  with  a 
most  fierce  and  threatening  aspect,  have  turned  into 
lambs  and  doves.  Some  however,  (especially  those 
found  in  the  Gospel  narratives),  are  really  perplexing, 
and  have  been  the  '-crux  theologorum"  in  all  ages: 
of  which  we  cite  the  following  as  illustrations.  There 
seems  a  very  decided  repugnance  between  Matthew's 
account  of  our  Saviour's  baptism,  and  that  of  John  ; 
the  former  representing  the  Baptist  as  knowing  Jesus 
from  the  first,  while  the  latter  says  that  he  did  not 
know  him  till  the  descent  of  the  Spirit.  Compare 
John  i.  33  and  Matthew  iii.  13.  There  is  also  a 
singular  clashing  between  the  narratives  of  Matthew 
and  Luke  concerning  the  miracle  wrought  upon  the 
blind  near  Jericho — Matthew  making  the  number, 
two  ;  and  expressly  saying  that  our  Lord  was  depart- 
ing ^'-from  the  city" — Luke  declaring  that  he  was 
going  to  it,  and  that  but  one  individual  was  restored  : 
Compare  Matthew  xx.  30  and  Luke  xviii.  35.  In  his 
account  of  the  crucifixion,  John  differs  from  the  other 
evangelists  as  to  time,  stating,  that  it  took  place  after 
the  sixtli  hour;  Mark  with  whom  Matthew  and  Luke 
agree,  names  the  third.  In  the  accounts  of  his  unction 
by  Mary,  the  discordancy  is  equally  marked — John 
saying  that  it  occuried  six  days  before  the  Passover ; 


PARALLEL    PASSAGES.  Il9 

Matthew  and  Mark  specifying  two.  The  narratives  of 
Christ's  resurrection  and  the  circumstances  which  fol- 
lowed it  seem  also  at  variance,  and  in  no  small  degree. 
These  examples  will  suffice,  though  we  might 
adduce  a  score  of  others.  Now  it  is  not  allowed  for  a 
moment  that  they  are  incapable  of  being  harmonized  : 
still,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  they  bear  a  strong  ap- 
pearance of  discrepancy.  The  student  therefore 
should  examine  them  carefully,  with  such  helps  as  the 
learned  have  furnished  ;  remembering  that  he  must  oc- 
casionally fall  in  with  the  infidel — and  that  the  infidel 
is  an  insect  of  tlie  blue  bottle  genus  who  always  set- 
tles on  such  spots.  If  after  his  best  exertions  he  does 
not  receive  perfect  satisfaction,  let  him  not  be  frighten- 
ed, as  if  these  gentlemen  had  gained  a  fearful  ad- 
vantage :  the  truth  is,  they  have  gained  a  loss — the 
fact  of  disagreement  in  matters  of  trifling  moment 
proving  triumphantly  the  substantial  veracity  of  our 
writers,  and  the  consequent  truth  of  Christianity. 
Whatever  trouble  it  may  give  us  in  defending  the 
doctrine  of  verbal  inspiration,  it  is  a  thunderbolt 
against  the  Deist :  for  is  it  not  certain,  that  if  the 
sacred  historians  had  combined  to  palm  a  falsehood  on 
us,  they  would  like  fraudulent  gamesters  have  taken 
care  to  play  into  each  other's  hands,  and  studiously 
avoided  every  appearance  of  collision  ?  But  nothing  of 
this  kind  appears.  There  is  no  leaning  on  each  other 
— no  mutual  adjustment  of  what  they  have  to  say,  nor 
endeavor  so  to  tiim  their  statements  that  they  shall 


120  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

nicely  fit  those  of  their  colleagues,  and  the  whole 
together  present,  like  fine  cabinet  work,  a  smooth  un- 
broken  surface  to  the  eye.  What  a  dehghtful  proof  of 
the  unbending  and  uncompromising  honesty  of  these 
pure-hearted  men  !  Remember  these  things.  Christian 
student ;  and  when  any  of  the  difficulties  alluded  to 
rise  up  to  harass  and  perplex  you,  take  comfort  from 
reflecting — that  the  occassion  of  your  distress  is  one  of 
the  strongest  guarantees  for  the  truth  of  your  religion. 
Bless  God  that  there  are  things  in  the  Gospel  wliich 
you  are  called  to  reconcile  ! 

Parallelism  of  doctrine  is  found,  where  the  same 
principles  are  taught  in  two  or  more  passages.  The 
great  business  of  the  didactic  theologian  is  to  investi- 
gate this  class  of  correspondencies.  All  sound  know- 
ledge of  Christian  doctrines,  depends  on  the  faith- 
ful and  judicious  comparison  of  scripture  with  scrip- 
ture. Does  the  student  want  clear  views  concerning 
man's  relations  to  his  Creator,  original  corruption,  the 
person  and  work  of  the  Redeemer,  justification,  the 
connection  between  it  and  the  renewal  of  the  soul  in 
holiness,  the  happiness  and  misery  of  a  future  state — 
his  course  is  plain  and  easy.  He  must  find  the  great 
classical  passages  on  each  point,  and  bring  them  in 
juxtaposition:  he  must  compare  (asking  no  other  as- 
sistance but  God's  grace  and  a  good  dictionary,)  Isaiah 
with  Matthew,  Paul  to  the  Romans  with  Paul  to  the 
Galatians,  and  both  these  with  James — the  author  of 
the  Apocalypse  with  Daniel  and  Ezekiel,  the  Epistle  to 


PARALLEL    PASSAGES.  121 

the  Hebrews  with  Genesis  and  Leviticus.  Let  him 
do  this  in  fear  of  the  Lord,  with  a  single  desire  to 
know  the  truth  ;  he  \v\\\  not  probably  come  from  his 
labor  a  Imir  sphtting  metaphysician  or  cunning  rhe- 
torician—but he  will  prove  something  more  and  bet- 
ter, "a  good  steward  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God." 

Besides  the  coincidences  above-mentioned,  there  is 
in  scripture  what  is  called  the  jjoetic  parallelism,  with 
which  every  reader  of  Hebrew  is  acquainted.  It  con- 
sists in  a  mutual  correspondence  of  the  two  members 
of  a  stanza  ;  the  one  being  a  sort  of  echo  to  the  other, 
as  in  Isaiah  i.  3  : 


The  ox  knoweth  his  owner, 
The  ass  his  master's  crib, 
Israel  does  uot  know, 
INIy  j)eople  do  uot  consider. 

Sometimes  the  answering  clause  is  synonymous 
with  the  first,  as  in  the  example  just  cited. 

Sometimes  antithetical,  or  opposed  to  it,  as  in  Prov. 
xii.  1 : 

A  wise  son  makes  a  glad  father. 

But  a  foolish  son  is  ihe  grief  of  his  mother. 

At  Others,  it  contains  only  a  farther  development  of 
the  thought,  as  in  Psal.  cxlviii.  7 : 

Praise  the  Lord  upon  the  earth, 
Yediagons  and  all  deeps; 
Fire  and  hail :  snow  and  vapour  ; 
Stormy  wind  ;  fulfilling  his  will: 
Mountains  and  all  hills: 
Fruit  trees  and  all  cedars. 


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122  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

These  parallelisms  are  of  excellent  use  to  the  inter- 
preter. They  often  enable  him  to  decide  important 
questions  concerning  the  meaning  of  words  and  pro- 
positions, when  deserted  by  all  other  hermeneutical 
aids.  Nor  is  their  use  confined  to  the  Old  Testament. 
The  same  rythmical  construction  everywhere  prevails 
in  the  New,  which  in  this,  as  in  many  other  respects, 
has  received  a  decided  tinge  from  the  Hebrew  wri- 
tings. On  this  whole  subject  we  earnestly  recommend 
to  the  student,  Bishop  Lowth's  Lectures  on  Hebrew 

oetry,  a  book  almost  worthy  of  its  theme. 


RULE    III. 


The  consideration  of  the  author's  scope  or  design 
greatly  facilitates  interpretation.  Every  man  (not  a 
fool,)  has  some  definite  purpose  in  speaking,  and  it  is 
fairly  presumed  that  he  will  use  such  terms  and  argu- 
ments as  are  suited  to  it.  The  scope  is  the  soul — the 
vis  vitse  of  a  work,  which  lives  and  breathes  through 
the  whole,  giving  order,  force  and  beauty  to  every 
part     It  may  be  ascertained  in  various  ways. 

1.  By  tnarking  the  occasion  07i  lohich  the  passage 
or  book  teas  written.  Thus  the  occasion  of  Paul's 
epistle  to  the  Galatians,  was  the  dissemination  among 
them  of  Jewish  errors  concerning  the  way  of  justifica- 
tion :    he  "marvels  that  they  were  so  soon  removed 


SCOPE    AND    DESIGN.  123 

from  him  that  called  them  into  the  grace  of  the  Gospel." 
The  epistles  to  the  Romans  had  a  like  origin.  The 
inscriptions  on  many  of  the  Psalms,  describing  the 
condition  of  tlie  poet  when  they  were  composed,  give 
them  wonderful  vivacity  and  impressiveness :  we  al- 
most seem  to  be  reading  different  compositions. 
Take  for  example  the  third  Psalm,  and  in  reading  it, 
set  before  you  the  pious  monarch  driven  from  his 
throne  by  the  machinations  of  an  unnatural  son,  and 
wandering  among  the  hills  of  Gilead,  wanting  the 
very  necessaries  of  life,  and  in  constant  danger  from 
enemies  who  were  thirsting  for  his  blood ;  yet  express- 
ing his  perfect  confidence  that  all  would  be  well  at 
last,  whatever  temporary  triumph  might  be  allowed 
ihem.  How  thrilling  every  expression  of  his  vie 
torious  faith  in  the  power  and  promise  of  God  under 
such  circumstanees  !  It  appears  that  the  serene  old 
man  did  not  lose  a  night's  rest  in  the  darkest  period  of 
his  trial : 

I  lay  me  down  and  sleep 
I  awake  for  Jehovah  sustains  me, 
I  fear  not  ten  thousands  of  people, 
Who  set  themselves  round  about  me. 

The  discourses  of  Christ  receive  like  illustrations, 
from  adverting  to  the  occasion  of  them.  Many  were 
answers  to  the  cavils  and  impertinencies  of  the  Pha- 
risees :  some  were  connected  with  occurrences  which 
took  place  in  his  presence:  others  were  suggested  by 
questions  of  his  disciples.     How  much  we  should  lose 


% 


E 

A 


124  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

of  the  meaning  and  beauty  of  Iiis  conversation  with 
the  Samaritan  woman,  if  we  separated  it  from  the 
Uttle  introductory  circumstances  which  are  recorded; 
viz.  that  the  place  was  ''  Sychar,"  the  chief  city  of 
the  most  bitter  enemies  of  liis  nation  ;  that  "Jacob's 
well'*'  was  there ;  that  weary  with  journeying  he  sat 
upon  its  mouth  waiting  the  return  of  his  disciples, 
"  who  had  gone  into  the  city  to  buy  meat ;"  that  he 
excited  her  astonishment  by  asking  drink  of  her,  "for 
the  Jews  have  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans." 
Every  one  of  these  apparently  trifling  incidents  has 
s  use  in  illustrating  what  follows :  not  one  could  be 
pared,  without  detracting  from  a  composition  which 
measured  by  a  standard  merely  literary,  has  nothing 
to  compare  with  it  in  all  the  ancient  and  modern 
classics. 

2.  By  examining  tohether  the  loriter  has  not  him- 
self  mentioned  his  design.  Thus  the  Evangelist 
John  informs  us,  what  his  purpose  was  in  writing  his 
gospel,  John  xx.  31.  "  These  things  are  written  that 
ye  might  believe  upon  Jesus,  and  that  believing  ye 
might  have  life  through  his  name."  Luke  avows  his 
design  very  clearly.  He  seems  to  have  been  dis- 
satisfied with  some  of  the  current  accounts  which  had 
been  published  of  the  life  of  Christ,  and  determines 
to  give  an  accurate  and  orderly  detail,  the  result  of  his 
own  personal  investigations.  As  he  intimates  his 
purpose  to  write  xaOitrj?,  i.  e.  "in  order" — having  care 
fully   followed    up   every  event,  Ttapr^xo-kovOr^xotc   avioOev 


SCOPE    OR    DESIGN.  125 

axptjScoj  many  judicious  commentators  infer  that  where 
the  evangehsts  difrer  as  to  the  order  of  facts,  liis  account 
is  to  be  preferred,  and  have  accordingly  made  it  the 
basis  of  their  schemes  of  harmony.  The  author  of 
Ecclesiastes  is  another  instance  of  a  sacred  writer  who 
states  his  object.  The  whole  work  is  a  commentary 
on  the  first  verse,  "Vanity  of  vanities,"  saith  the 
preacher ;  all  is  vanity."  It  must  be  confessed  that 
he  sticks  to  his  melancholy  text  most  closely,  and 
expounds  it  with  a  fearful  energy. 

Occasionally,  a  sacred  writer  gives  his  purpose  not 
at  the  outset,  but  the  close  of  his  remarks.  A  striking 
.instance  is  found  in  Paul's  epistle  to  the  Romans. 
In  the  first  tliree  chapters,  he  elaborately  reviews  the 
moral  condition  of  mankind  both  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
in  all  ages,  and  shows  that  the  whole  world  was 
guilty  before  God.  In  the  20th  verse  of  the  third 
chapter,  we  see  him  distinctly  approaching  his  object : 
"Therefore  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh  be 
justified  in  his  sight;  for  by  the  law  is  the  knowledge 
of  sin."  This  was  one  point  gained,  and  one  of 
momentous  interest  to  a  mind  anxiously  inquiring, 
"How  shall  man  be  just  with  God."  But  he  had  a 
much  higher  aim  than  merely  to  prostrate  the  sinner . 
he  kills  that  he  may  make  alive  ;  and  after  an  eloquent 
discussion  tluough  the  seven  verses  that  follow,  brings 
out  in  the  28th,  the  great  central  truth  of  the  Gospel 
with   dialectic    formality.     "Therefore   we   conclude 


126  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

that  a  man  is  justified  by  faith  without  the  deeds  of 
the  law." 

3dly.  If  both  the  expedients  mentioned  fail,  we 
should  read  the  whole  book,  marking  the  coherence  of 
its  various  parts.  Mr.  Locke  recommends  the  perusal 
of  it  at  one  sitting,  quoting  his  own  experience  in 
favor  of  the  plan.  "I  concluded  it  necessary,"  he 
says,  (speaking  of  Paul's  episiles),  "for  the  under- 
standing of  any  one  of  them,  often  to  read  it  all 
through  at  one  sitting,  and  to  observe  as  well  as  I 
could,  the  design  of  his  writing  it.  If  the  first  reading 
gave  me  some  light,  the  second  gave  me  more ;  and 
so  I  persisted  on,  reading  constantly  the  whole  epistle 
over  at  oijce,  till  I  came  to  have  a  good  general  view 
of  the  apostle's  main  purpose  in  writing."  The  advice 
is  excellent,  suggesting  the  very  method  we  employ 
in  ascertaining  the  scope  of  other  writings.  If  the 
title-page  leave  any  doubt  or  darkness  on  the  subject, 
we  instinctively  turn  to  the  table  of  contents,  or  skim 
over  the  different  chapters,  before  we  engage  in  a  cri- 
tical perusal.  We  thus  catch  the  author's  drift — we 
see  what  he  looidd  he  at — without  some  knowledge  of 
which,  reading  is  the  most  intolerable  of  all  drudgery. 


RULE    IV. 


Examine  well  what  precedes  and  follows  the  part 
to  he  expounded.      This  is  called  the  context ;  and  is 


COiNTEXT.  127 

divided  into  the  remote  and  immediate.  The  imme- 
diate^ is  that  part  which  stands  in  immediate  proxim- 
ity to  the  passage ;  the  remote,  may  extend  some 
distance  backward  and  forward.  The  mind  generally 
thinks  in  train,  and  connect?  its  ideas  together  by 
well-known  laws  of  association.  This  connection  of 
thought^  and  the  logical  relation  of  one  part  of  the  series 
to  another,  is  an  invaluable  key  to  the  mind  of  a 
writer,  except  when  he  professedly  deals  in  aphorisms; 
as  the  author  of  the  book  of  Proverbs,  and  Christ  in  part 
of  his  sermon  on  the  mount.  It  is  in  some  respects 
more  important  than  the  scope :  the  latter  only  gives 
me  the  author's  general  purpose,  which  does  not  for- 
bid the  admission  of  episodes,  and  topics  merely 
collateral :  We  shall  be  certain  to  err  with  regard  to 
these,  if  we  neglect  the  connection. 

We  must  be  on  our  guard,  however,  against  manu- 
facturing a  connection ;  in  other  words  against 
putting  a  false  construction  on  what  precedes  or  fol- 
lows, and  then  moulding  the  exposition  in  conformity 
with  our  own  gloss, — a  fault  often  committed.  False- 
hood can  only  beget  falsehood.  Nor,  supposing  that 
our  construction  is  true,  may  we  adjust  our  passage  to 
it  by  any  violation  of  the  Usus  Loquendi,  or  rules  of 
grammar.  In  these  cases,  we  must  take  wiiat  might 
seem  the  w^orst  of  two  meanings — sacrificing  con- 
textual symmetry  to  the  general  laws  of  language. 
Thus  limited,  the  rule  that  no  explanation  is  to  be  ad- 


128  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

mitted  which  does  not  suit  the  context,  is  of  constant 
use. 

Suppose  me  reading  the  42d  Psalm,  and  considering 
the  pathetic  exclamation  in  the  second  verse  : 

My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  the  living  God, 
When  shall  I  come  and  appear  before  Godj 
My  tears  are  my  meat  day  and  night, 
While  it  is  said  continually,  Where  is  thy  God  ? 

My  first  impulse  is  to  view  it  as  the  expression  of 
a  wish  to  die  and  enjoy  the  felicity  of  heaven  ;  espe- 
cially as  the  phrase  "  seeing  God,"  often  refers  to  future 
blessedness.  But  a  glance  at  the  4th  verse,  shows 
that  the  pious  monarch  longed  for  restoration  to  the 
services  of  the  earthly  sanctuary,  of  which  he  iiad 
been  deprived  by  the  persecutions  of  his  son  Absalom  : 

When  I  think  of  this,  I  pour  out  my  heart  in  tears. 

How  I  went  witli  the  multitude — went  to  the  house  of  God, 

With  jubilee  and  praise  in  a  sacred  happy  throng. 

The  110th  Psalm  describes  the  victorious  progress 
of  an  illustrious  prince,  greatly  honored  by  God,  and 
exalted  to  his  right  hand.  The  first  three  verses  leave 
me  in  doubt  whether  the  poet  speaks  of  David  or 
another  and  far  greater  personage,  as  the  sitting  at 
God's  right  hand  maybe  figurative: 

Jehovah  said  unlo  my  Lord, 

Sit  thou  at  my  right  hand, 

Until  I  make  thine  enemies  thy  footstool. 


CONTEXT.  129 

Thy  powerful  sceptre  Jehovah  seuds  out  of  Zioii . 
Rule  ill  the  midst  of  thy  foes. 

But  the  4tli  verse  settles  the  question  : 

Jehovah  hath  sworu  andw^ill  not  I'epent, 
Thou  art  au  everlasting  priest, 
Of  the  order  of  Melchisedec. 

David  was  no  priest,  nor  could  any  Hebrew  mon- 
arch assume  the  office  without  heaven-daring  profan- 
ity. The  strange  and  (to  the  Jew)  astounding  phe- 
nomenon of  a  '•  priest  upon  a  throne,"  directs  us  at 
once  to  David's  Son  and  Lord.  The  application  of 
this  simple  test  will  enable  the  plainest  Christian  to 
detect  the  Psalms  called  Messianic,  at  a  glance.  They 
all  embody  in  their  representations  such  remarkable 
incidents  and  traits  of  personal  character,  as  make  it 
impossible  to  apply  them  without  the  grossest  impro- 
priety to  any  but  the  anointed  of  the  Father.  Let  the 
2d,  16th,  22d,  45th,  and  72d  l)e  brought  to  this  touch- 
stone;  nothing  but  arrant  infidehty  can  resist  the 
force  of  the  argument. 

It  may  admit  a  doubt  whether  the  celebrated  de- 
scription in  Rom.  vii.  of  the  struggle  between  the 
'•  flesh  and  the  spirit,"  refers  to  the  true  Christian 
or  the  unregenerate.  There  are  some  expressions  in 
it,  which  certaitnty  agree  best  with  the  latter  supposi- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  there  are  whole  sentences 
which  cannot  at  all  be  reconciled  with  this  hypothe- 
sis, and  compel  us  to  understand  the  apostle  as  de- 
scribing the  exercises  of  the  Christian.  In  the  18th 
6 


130  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

verse,  it  is  clearly  implied  that  the  person  described, 
possesses  iirpulses  and  principles  superior  to  those  of 
unrenewed  nature.  ''  In  me,  that  is,  in  my  flesh, 
dwelleth  no  good  thing."  In  the  22d  verse,  he  is  said 
to  "delight  in  the  Law  of  God  after  the  inner  man ;" 
and  in  the  25th,  he  thanks  God  for  "  his  deliverance 
through  Christ  Jesus."'  Farther,  to  entirely  preclude 
the  supposition  that  this  deliverance  is  a  7ieiv  state^ 
following,  and  not  contemporary  with  the  struggle,  he 
adds,  "  So  then  with  the  7ni7id  I  serve  the  Law  of  God ; 
but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin."  Surely  it  is  not  in 
accordance  with  the  tenor  of  scripture,  as  an  excellent 
commentator  observes,  to  describe  in  this  way  the 
exercises  and  character  of  unholy  men. 

Let  us  bring  to  the  contextual  touchstone  another 
passage — the  well-known  paragraph  in  Romans  5th, 
which  seems  to  assert  a  direct  causal  connection,  be- 
tween Adam  and  his  posterity.  "By  one  man  sin 
entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death 
passed  upon  all  men,  for  all  have  sinned  :"  "  By  one 
man's  offence,  death  reigned  by  one  :''  "  By  the  offence 
of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all  to  condemnation  :" 
'"'By  one  man's  disobedience,  many  were  made  sin- 
ners." Pelagians  affirm,  that  all  intended  by  these 
remarkable  statements  is,  that  Adam  gave  the  first 
example  of  sinning,  and  that  somehow^  his  posterity 
walked  in  his  steps.  They  compare  the  phraseology 
with  expressions  like  these  :  "  By  Sir  Robert  Walpole, 
bribery   and   corruption    entered    the   British    parlia- 


CONTEXT.  131 

ment :''  '•  By  Lysander,  luxury  entered  Sparta ;'» 
which,  according  to  them,  only  mean  that  the  evils 
mentioned  began  with  these  persons.  Without  dwell- 
ing on  the  violence  done  to  the  words  by  this  gloss,  or 
the  fact  that  their  own  phrases  clearly  denote  not  only 
a  chronological  but  a  causal  connection,  let  the  stu- 
dent look  at  the  whole  series  of  discourse  that  follows  ; 
in  which  the  apostle,  with  an  emphasis  and  accumu 
lation  of  synonymous  expressions,  which  show  how  in 
tently  his  mind  was  w^irking  with  the  thought,  draws 
a  parallel  between  Adam  and  the  Redeemer.  If  he 
does  not  mean  to  say  that  there  was  a  similitude  be- 
tween them  in  official  character  and  relations,  almost 
perfect,  there  is  no  meaning  in  language.  The  infer- 
ence is  irresistible.  Christ  was  not  the  first  who  re- 
ceived salvation,  but  is  the  immediate  author  of  it.  In 
the  same  sense  our  guilty  progenitor  is  the  immediate 
author  of  sin  and  misery  to  our  world. 

This  attempt  to  explain  away  the  plain  meaning 
of  scripture  is  sufficiently  gross.  That  of  the  Soci- 
nians  to  evacuate  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  of  our 
Redeemer's  Priesthood  and  atonement,  is  yet  more  so. 
The  priesthood  of  Jesus,  they  say,  is  a  bold  fio-ure 
merely  denoting  that  he  was  a  consecrated  minister 
of  God.  His  sacrifice  consisted  in  the  virtuous  obedi- 
ence which  he  yielded,  and  which  might  be  so  called, 
not  properly,  but  in  a  prettij,  fanciful  way — because 
it  was  crowned  with  a  death  of  martyrdom  !  The 
apostle  then,  through  six  mortal  chapters,  has  been 


132  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

hammering  at  a  rough,  uncouth  figure,  and  the  result 
of  all  his  learned  labor  is — absolutely  nothing  ! 
Nowhere^  in  all  the  annals  of  writing,  can  be  found 
an  instance  to  compare  with  it,  of  the  "  montes  par- 
turiunt,  nascetur  ridiculus  mus."  It  would  be  idle  to 
allege  the  context  against  such  expounders.  They 
grant  every  thing  we  say  concerning  its  entire  and 
perfect  harmony  with  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  satis- 
faction :  all  they  ask  us  to  allow,  is,  that  the  whole  book 
may  be  a  metaphor  run  mad.  We  would  rather 
doubt  the  sanity  of  some  of  its  expositors. 

These  examples  may  suffice  of  the  advantage  de- 
riv^ed  from  studying  the  context.  It  is  unhappily 
much  discouraged  and  impeded  by  the  way  in  which 
our  modern  Bibles  are  printed.  The  fracture  of  great 
coherent  masses  into  verses,  is  an  unhappy  arrange- 
ment. The  reader's  attention  is  almost  necessarily 
carried  away  from  the  flow  and  current  of  thought, 
and  fixed  on  an  isolated  proposition,  whose  true 
meaning  depends  upon  something  not  distinctly  before 
his  mind  :  in  consequence,  he  is  very  apt  to  treat 
revelation  as  an  immense  collection  of  proverbs  ;  and 
the  majority  of  common  readers  actually  so  con- 
sider it. 

The  custom  of  reading  the  New  Testament  in  this 
manner,  originated  with  Robert  Stephens  the  famous 
printer,  who  having  published  editions  of  it  which 
met  with  great  acceptance,  determined  to  add  a  Con- 
cordance :  and  for  convenience  of  reference,  chopped 


¥m. 


CONTEXT.  133 


the  text  into  its  present  form ;  making  it  resemble 
more  an  auction  catalogue,  than  a  civiUzed-christian 
book.     His  son  Henry  states,  that  he  went  through 
the  whole  business  while  on  horseback,  (in  equitando) 
w^hich  we  are  quite  disposed  to  beUeve,  as  the  exercise 
was  well  adapted  to  shake  out  verses  without  straining 
violently  the  reader's  intellect.     The  mischief  which 
it  has  caused  in  relation  to  the  study  of  scripture,  is 
far  greater  than  those  suppose,  who  have  never  re- 
flected on  the  subject.    How  ridiculous  would  a  modern 
letter  appear,  ex.  gr.  Washington's  Farewell  Address, 
if  mutilated  in  this  savage  manner  !     Yet  such  is  the 
effect  of  custom,  that  it  scarcely  excites  notice,  when 
performed  on  a  writer  who  least  of  all  can  bear  such 
an  infliction— the  rapid,  discursive  and  exuberant  Paul. 
Nor  can  we  approve  the  practice  adopted  by  many 
preachers,  of  running  into  their  pulpits  with  a  single 
sentence  or  part  of  one,  which  they  make  their  exclu- 
sive subject ;  not  bestowing  on  the  connection  a  word 
of  notice— unless   they  have   been   hurried  in  their 
preparations,  and  find  it  convenient  to  talk  a  little 
round  it,  in  an  extempore  introduction.     What  would 
we  think  if  we  heard  any  other  book  prelected  on  in 
this  way — a  treatise  on  medicine  for  instance,  or  on 
morals  :  or  what  would  Ave  think  of  a  judge  expound- 
ing in  this  way  a  legal  statute?     The  civil  law  has 
laid  down  an  express  canon  on  the  subject,  with  some 
tartness,  as  if  indignant  at  the  idea  of  such  a  practice  : 
"  Twye  est  de  lege  judicare,  tota  lege  non   inspecta." 


134  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Ministers  are  often  heard  to  chide  their  people  sharply, 
for  the  careless  and  unprofitable  way  in  which  they 
read  the  word  of  God  :  but  they  would  do  well  to  ask, 
whether  they  are  not  themselves  to  blame  in  forming 
them  to  such  wretched  habits  of  perusing  it.  When 
his  Reverence  appears  before  the  people  month  after 
month,  without  in  a  single  instance  perhaps,  explain- 
ing the  design,  coherence,  and  argument  of  a  para- 
graph containing  only  six  verses,  it  is  really  too  much 
to  expect,  that  honest  John  will  spend  his  Sabbath 
evenings  in  supplying  the  pastor's  lack  of  service. 

The  same  evil  prevails  in  the  domain  of  contro- 
versial theology.  Many  allow  themselves  to  be  cap- 
tivated by  the  mere  sound  of  a  phrase.  It  seems  to 
suit  their  purpose  in  an  argument :  incontinently  they 
detach  it  from  the  paragraph  to  which  it  belongs, 
dress  it  up  in  high-sounding  paraphrase,  and  send  it 
forth,  "  to  root  out,  pull  down  and  destroy "  every 
thing  that  opposes.  Examples  without  number  could 
be  given,  from  the  writings  of  all  religious  parties, 
even  our  own,  for  that  many  passages  which  Cal- 
vinists  quote  are  utterly  irrelevant,  the  slightest  ex- 
amination shows.  An  instance  of  this  is  the  cele- 
brated declaration  in  Jeremiah  xxxi.  3 :  "  I  have  loved 
thee  with  everlasting  love,  therefore  with  loving  kind- 
ness have  I  drawn  thee,"  which  may  be  more  pro- 
perly translated  thus, 

In  days  of  old  have  I  loved  thee, 

Therefore  will  I  prolong  my  goodness  to  thee. 


135 


CONTEXT. 


God  is  here  assuring  the  teu  tribes  of  deliverance  and 
protection,  on  account  of  the  love  he  bore  them  in 
former  times,  when  with  outstretched  arm  he  brought 
them  from  the  land  of  Egypt.  Nothing  is  said  of  the 
eternity  of  his  purposes,  or  their  accomplishment  in 
the  conversion  of  the  elect :  if  applied  to  this  subject , 
it  must  be  in  the  way  of  pious  accommodation.  The 
same  is  true  of  another  favorite  passage:  Matthew 
xxii.  14,  '•  Many  are  called,  but  few  aie  chosen."  The 
whole  context  and  scope  shows,  that  the  Redeemer  is 
not  speaking  of  sovereign  election,  but  rather  stating 
the  fact,  that  while  all  are  invited  to  the  Gospel  feast, 
there  are  comparatively  few  admitted,  in  consequence 
of  neglecting  to  secure  the  necessary  qualifications. 

On  the  other  hand,  our  Arminian  brethren  quote, 
with  as  little  shadow  of  reason,  1  Corinthians,  xii.  7, 
to  prove  universal  grace.  The  proposition  that  "a 
dispensation  of  the  spirit  is  given  to  every  man  to 
profit  withal,"  sounds  indeed  bravely.  But  the  sound 
is  all:  the  whole  argument  shows  that  the  Apostle  is 
speaking  of  supernatural  gifts  of  the  spirit,  and  is 
addressing  church  members  exclusively. 

When  we  apply  our  Rule  to  interpretation,  some 
caution  is  necessary,  in  consequence  of  the  context 
being  occasionally  broken  by  a  parenthesis.  In  the 
New  Testament  these  are  very  frequent,  especially 
with  Paul,  whose  impetuous  genius  often  starts  aside 
to  embody  a  vivid  conception  or  glowing  sentiment 
that  suddenly  kindled  in  his  mind,  and  which  he  did 


136  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

not  allow  himself  leisure,  to  weave  into  the  general 
texture  of  his  discourse.  We  have  a  beautiful  ex- 
ample in  2  Timothy,  i.  16,  18 :  where  the  short  prayer 
in  the  beginning  of  the  ISth  verse  is  evidently  an 
extempore  burst  of  grateful  emotion,  and  the  words 
must  be  enclosed  in  brackets:  '-But  when  Onesi- 
phorus  was  in  Rome,  he  sought  me  out  very  dili- 
gently and  found  me.  {the  Lord  grant  unto  him  that 
he  may  find  mercy  of  the  Lord  in  tliat  day^)  and  in 
how  many  things  he  ministered  to  me  at  Ephesus, 
thou  knowest  very  well.''  A  more  striking  instance 
is  in  Ephesians  iii.  w^here  the  first  and  fourteenth 
verses  must  be  immediately  united,  the  parenthesis 
consisting  of  not  less  than  thirteen. 

Attention  to  this,  vvonderfully  enlightens  some  of 
his  dark  sayings;  among  others,  that  in  1  Timothy, 
V.  23:  '-Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  little  wine 
for  thy  stomach's  sake  and  thine  often  infirmities." 
The  Apostle  is  in  the  midst  of  a  solemn  and  weighty 
exhortation  to  Timothy,  in  relation  to  ordaining  can- 
didates for  the  ministry.  In  the  22d  verse,  he  says, 
''lay  hands  suddenly  on  no  man,  neither  be  partaker 
of  other  men's  sins,  keep  thyself  pure."  In  the  24th 
he  carries  out  the  thought,  stating  that  some  men's 
disqualifications  were  open  and  manifest  to  all,  others 
were  more  secret  and  followed  after  them.  There  is 
thus  a  complete  connection  between  the  22d  and  24th 
verses ;  and  the  question  rises,  how  the  Apostle  comes 
to  press  the  matter  of  wine-drinking  directly  between 


CHARACTER,    ETC.    OF    THE    WRITERS.  137 

the  two,  when  the  thought  was  so  foreign  to  his  whole 
subject?  It  is  manifestly  a  parenthesis.  In  the  midst 
of  his  directions  concerning  ordination,  he  remembers 
that  his  young  friend  was  of  feeble  constitution,  and 
liable  to  severe  attacks  of  dyspepsia.  It  is  in  his 
mind  to  prescribe  a  glass — not  of  syrup,  but  of  good 
generous  wine,  which  is  known  to  possess  great  virtue 
in  such  complaints.  No  sooner  thought,  than  done. 
Without  losing  a  moment,  he  tosses  it  into  the  middle 
of  his  argument,  where  it  stands  a  fine  specimen  of 
the  noble  artlessness  of  the  great  Apostle.  Dr.  Paley 
builds  on  this  circumstance  a  strong  argument  for  the 
authenticity  of  the  epistle.  It  scarcely  would  have 
entered  the  mind  of  an  impostor,  to  exhibit  Paul  as 
commending  wine,  in  a  grave,  apostolical  epistle : 
much  less,  would  he  have  introduced  the  advice  in  so 
strange  and  improbable  a  manner. 


RULE    V. 

We  must  know  the.  character^  age^  sect,  nation,  and 
other  i^eculiarities  of  the  writer.  Every  human  being 
has  a  character — a  certain  something  which  distin- 
guishes him  from  others,  giving  a  hue  to  all  his 
thoughts  and  modes  of  expressing  them.  This  must 
be  known,  in  order  to  his  being  understood.  The  in- 
spired writers  are  no  exception  to  the  rule.  They  who 
imagine  that  the  Holy  Spirit  so  possessed  their  minds 


138  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

that  they  became  mere  automata  in  his  hands,  and 
poured  out  words  and  thoughts  as  they  were  succes- 
sively poured  in — hke  so  many  water-pipes  of  a  cis- 
tern, betray  profound  ignorance  of  the  subject.  Some 
such  crude  fancies  were  entertained  in  former  times, 
and  are  probably  not  extinct.  They  doubtless  origin- 
ated in  a  vague  notion,  that  the  more  entirely  human 
agency  was  excluded  from  the  doctrine  of  inspira- 
tion, the  higher  honor  was  bestowed  on  the  Divine 
Spirit:  and  the  etymology  of  the  word  "inspiration" 
had  also  its  effect.  It  originally  and  properly  signified, 
a  breathing  in,  and  suggested  the  dark  and  mysterious 
conception  of  an  eflfect  produced  on  the  thinking  sub- 
stance of  a  man,  not  unlike  the  inflation  of  a 
bladder — 

"  magnam  cui  mentem  auimumque, 
Delius  iuspirat  vates." 

But  inspiration  has  nothing  in  common  with  its  ety- 
mology :  it  simply  expresses  the  idea  of  supernatural 
assistance  and  guidance,  in  the  communication  to 
mankind  of  truths  previously  unknown.  Those  who 
were  honored  with  it,  were  enabled  to  speak,  act  and 
write,  as  divine  messengers,  in  perfect  conformity  with 
the  will  of  Him  who  sent  them  ;  so  that  nothing  pro- 
ceeded from  them,  but  what  was  holy  and  true.  Yet 
they  were  not  puppets,  acted  on  by  a  physical  and  com- 
pelling force  from  without.  Tliey  were  living,  personal 
agents,  in  full  possession  of  all  the  faculties  with  which 
they  had  been  endowed  by  their  Creator — with  per- 


CHARACTER,    ETC.    OF    THE    WRITERS.         139 

ception,  memory,  consciousness,  will ;  and  the  energy 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  wrought  no  greater  violence  on 
their  minds  in  the  exercise  of  these  powers,  than 
is  wrought  by  his  ordinary  operation  on  the  hearts  of 
believers  in  every  age  of  tlie  church. 

It  is  not  our  business  to  give  the  philosophy  of  this 
^^pre-established  harmony*'  between  agencies  so  differ- 
ent, nor  to  speculate  on  the  mode  in  which  they  were 
combined  for  the  production  of  a  single  result.  As  in- 
terpreters, we  state  the  fact — not  explain  it:  and  the 
fact  certainly  is,  that  no  men  are  more  distinguished 
from  each  other  by  strong  mental  idiosyncrasies,  nor 
any  who  give  more  decided  evidence,  that  their  own 
spirits  performed  an  important  office  in  composition. 
In  the  author  of  the  book  of  Proverbs,  we  see  before 
us  the  grave,  sententious,  dignified  monarch,  whose 
profound  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  sparkling 
gems  of  wisdom,  made  his  name  celebrated  through- 
out the  East.  Amos  is  always  the  strong,  bold,  but 
somewhat  unpolished  herdsman  of  Tekoah.  The 
rough  and  vehement  Ezekiel,  standing  with  dis- 
hevelled hair  and  rolhng  eye,  in  the  midst  of  his  fan- 
tastic but  expressive  symbols,  never  suffers  us  to  mis- 
take him  for  Isaiah,  the  sublime,  imaginativ^e,  tasteful 
courtier  of  Hezekiah.  The  same  with  the  plaintive, 
tender  Jeremiah — the  contemplative  John — the  argu- 
mentative, glowing  Paul.  It  is  an  old,  but,  with 
proper  explanation,  perfectly  true  remark,  originally 
made  by  Jerome,  that  "  revelation  consists  in  thought, 


140  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

not  ill  words  or  external  cliess  :  nee  putemus  in  verbis 
scriptuiam  evangelii  esse,  sed  in  sensii."  We  insult  the 
Holy  Ghost,  by  supposing  him  unable  to  accommodate 
himself  to  the  mode  of  thinking  and  phraseology  of 
those  whom  he  honored  with  his  influence — that  when 
he  made  the  prophet,  he  was  forced  to  unmake  the 

man. 

When  we  read  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  therefore, 
we  must  remember  that  we  are  conversing  with  a  fin- 
ished gentleman  of  the  old  school ;  a  scholar  brought 
up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel,  a  powerful  but  a  rapid 
reasoner,   delighting    in    ellipses,   digressions,   repeti- 
tions, bold  figures,  and   pregnant  expressions   suggest- 
ino-  more  than  meets  the  ear — fond  of  illustrating  his 
subject  by  Old  Testament  ideas,   even  when  he  in- 
tends making  no  use    of    them    in    argument ;  and 
above  all,  that   we   are   conversing  with  him    who, 
more  than   any  other  apostle,  was  deeply  penetrated 
with  the  glorious  catholicity  and  abounding  grace  of 
the  Gospel !     In  reading  James,  we  must  think  of  the 
stern,  high-souled  moralist,  in   whom  the  ethical  ele- 
ment of  Christianity  seems  to  have  taken  the  deepest 
root;  who,  while  with   adoring  faith  he  beheld  '-the 
Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  woiid."  never 
lost  from  his  view  the  awful  form   of  that  "eternal 
law ''  which  spoke  in  thunder    from    Sinai,  and    yet 
speaks  in  milder  tones,  though  with  the  same  com- 
manding  authority,  to   every  child  of  Adam.     John, 
in  his  writings,  seems  to  be  still  clinging  to  his  mas- 


CHARACTER,    ETC.    OF    THE    WRITERS.  141 

ter's  bosom. — Love  to  the  person  of  liis  Redeemer  is 
evidently  his  engrossing  sentiment.  No  one  can 
doubt,  apart  from  every  argument  containing  in  other 
parts  of  Scripture,  that  John  beUeved  liim  to  be  divine. 
His  glory  as  the  uncreated  Logos — that  glory  which 
he  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was,  a  few 
scattered  rays  of  which  had  been  seen  through  the 
veil  of  his  humiliation,  is  the  great  thought  with 
which  his  soul  holds  constant  communion,  raised 
above  every  other  object — like  the  eagle  calmly  repos- 
ing in  mid  heaven,  and  gazing  at  the  sun!  He 
who  gives  no  attention  to  these  things,  and  does  not 
take  pains  to  catch  the  distinctive  peculiarities  of  the 
sacred  writers,  commits  the  same  kind  of  blunder  with 
that  of  the  man  who  reads  Milton's  Paradise  liOst,  and 
Addison's  Essays  in  the  Spectator,  yet  sees  no  differ- 
ence between  them  except  in  the  length  of  the  lities. 

It  is  important  also,  to  note  the  different  kinds  of 
composition  they  employed.  Some  were  poets,  and 
must  be  interpreted  according  to  the  laws  of  poetry. 
Their  bold  tropes  must  not  be  turned  into  sober 
matter-of-fact  realities  ;  as  is  done  by  the  Millenarians, 
who  read  Isaiah  nearly  as  they  would  Blackstone's 
Commentaries  on  the  British  Constitution.  Ezekiel 
is  not  Luke,  nor  is  Matthew  the  publican,  David, 
singing  one  of  the  sweet  odes  of  Zion  to  the  music  of 
his  harp.  Historians  are  to  be  treated  as  historians, 
not  as  poets  or  rhetoricians  :  the  accounts  of  miradijs., 
given  in  our  four  Gospels,  must  therefore  be  taken  to 


142  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

the  letter.     No  books  in  the  world  bear  more  decided 
evidence,  that   their  authors  intended  to   give  simple 
and  perspicuous  narratives  of  events  as  they  actually 
occurred.     The  principle  must  not  be  tolerated  for  a 
moment,    of  explaining    them  away,    by   doing   vio- 
lence to  the  plain  meaning  of  language,  and  to  all 
the  laws  which  are  applied  to  other  historical  compo- 
sitions.    Yet  it  has  been  sanctioned  by  great  names, 
especially  in  Germany.     Grave  divines  are  found,  who 
insist  that  there  is  not  one  miracle  in  the  Gospels ; 
the  events  which  seem  miraculous  being  entirely  na- 
tural, but  exaggerated  and  embellished,  by  the  warm 
fancies   of  the  people   among   whom  they   occurred. 
Only  strip,  they  say,    the  Evangelists   of  this  semi- 
poetic  drapery,  and  the  business  of  exposition  will  go 
on  delightfully.     Moses  fares,  if  possible,  still  worse ; 
as  they  turn  him  into  an  allegorist  or  reciter  of  my- 
thological fables.     The  first  ten  chapters  of  Genesis 
contain  about   as  large  a  body  of  real  truth,  as  can 
pass  without  inconvenience  through  the  eye  of  a  nee- 
^\q — being  made  up  of  old  stories  and  scraps  of  song, 
which  mean  nothing,  or  anything,  that  a  lively  fancy 
may  suggest. 

Let  not  the  Christian  student  take  great  pains  to 
refute  this  wretched  infidelity,  which  does  not  openly 
avow  itself  infidel,  nierely  because  its  advocates  earn 
their  bread  by  a  profession  of  Christianity ;  the  most 
of  them,  being  either  professors  of  Christian  theology, 
or   pastors   of  Christian  churches.     Indignandum  de 


COMMON    SENSE.  143 

isto;  non  disputandum  est.  Such  interpretations  do 
not  deserve  the  name.  They  are  feats  of  jugglery  and 
legerdemain  ;  and  their  authors  are  conceited  sciolists, 
who,  pranking  themselves  as  the  high-priests  of  phi- 
losophy, prove  by  their  irreverence  for  things  sacred, 
that  they  have  not  reached  the  portico  of  her  temple. 
The  true  philosopher  always  trembles,  when  he  stands, 
or  even  suspects  that  he  stands,  in  the  presence  of 
God  !  He  cannot  trifle  with  such  a  book  as  the  Bible ! 
He  cannot  sport  with  a  volume,  the  falsehood  of 
which,  if  proved,  turns  him  over  to  the  beasts,  and 
deprives  him  of  his  last  stake,  as  a  candidate  for  the 
glories  of  immortalit}^ 


RULE    VI. 


In  expounding  Scripture,  let  there  he  a  constant 
appeal  to  the  tribunal  of  common  sense.  Language 
is  not  the  invention  of  metaphysicians,  or  convoca- 
tions of  the  wise  and  learned.  It  is  the  common 
blessing  of  mankind,  framed  for  their  mutual  advan- 
tage in  their  intercourse  with  each  otber.  Its  laws 
therefore,  are  popular,  not  philosophical — being  found- 
ed on  the  general  laws  of  thought  which  govern  the 
whole  mass  of  mind  in  the  community.  Now,  how- 
ever men  may  differ  from  each  other,  there  are  cer- 
tain universal  notions,  plain  and  obvious  principles  of 
knowledge,  according  to  w^hich  speech  is  regulated : 


144  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

when  we  try  a  work   by  these,   we   bring  it   to   the 
standard  of  '•'common  sense." 

There  is  occasion  for  it  ev^ery  moment.  Scarcely 
will  we  liear  in  a  long  and  serious  conversation  be- 
tween the  best  speakers,  a  sentence  which  does  not 
need  some  modification  or  limitation,  in  order  that  we 
may  not  attribute  to  it  more  or  less  than  was  intended. 
Nor  is  the  operation  at  all  difficult.  We  make  the 
correction  instantly,  with  so  little  cost  of  thought,  that 
we  would  be  tempted  to  call  it  instinct,  if  we  did  not 
know  that  many  of  our  perceptions  which  seem  intui- 
tive, are  the  work  of  habit  and  education.  It  would 
be  an  exceedingly  strange  thing,  if  the  Bible,  the  most 
popular  of  all  books,  composed  by  men  for  the  most 
part  taken  from  the  multitude,  addressed  to  all,  and 
on  subjects  equally  interesting  to  all,  were  found 
written  in  language  to  be  interpreted  on  different 
principles.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  it  is  not.  Its  style 
is  eminently,  and  to  a  remarkable  degree,  that  which 
we  would  expect  to  find  in  a  volume  designed  by  its 
gracious  Author  to  be  the  j^^oi^Ws  book — abounding 
in  all  those  kinds  of  inaccuracy  which  are  sprinkled 
through  ordinary  discourse,  hyperboles,  enallages,  and 
loose  catechrestical  expressions,  whose  meaning  no 
one  mistakes,  though  their  deviation  from  plu7?ib, 
occasionally  makes  the  small  critic  sad.  In  such 
cases,  we  reject  everything  incompatible  with  evident 
truth:  assuming  that  the  Bible  could  never  intend  to 
contradict  our  reason,  or  teach  in  any  possible  case 


COMMON    SENSE.  145 

that   two  and   two  are  five.     We   shall   give  a  few 
illustrations. 

1st.  It  never  teaches  doctrines  refuted  by  the 
testimony  of  the  senses.  Thus,  when  David  says 
that  "he  is  poured  out  like  water,  and  all  his  hones 
are  out  of  joint,  that  his  heart  is  melted  in  the  midst 
of  his  bowels,"  we  perceive  instantly,  that  a  literal 
pouring  out  and  melting  cannot  be  meant,  as  nothing 
of  the  kind  has  been  ever  witnessed.  "When  the  Re- 
deemer, in  the  institution  of  the  Supper,  declares  of  the 
bread,  that  it  is  his  body  ;  and  of  the  wine,  that  it  is 
his  blood,  we  necessarily  understand  him  to  be  speak- 
ing figuratively  and  symbolically.  My  senses  dis- 
tinctly see,  taste,  smell,  and  feel,  that  the  sacramental 
elements  are  nothing  but  real  bread  and  wine.  If 
the  Scriptures  really  taught  the  popish  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  they  would  declare  a  falsehood, 
which  would  be  quite  sufficient  by  itself  to  destroy 
their  authority.  The  principle  of  believing  a  doctrine 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  clear  evidence  of  the  senses, 
is  destructive  of  all  evidence.  If  my  senses  may  de- 
ceive me,  how  shall  I  convince  myself  that  I  ever  saw 
a  book  called  the  Bible,  or  read  it,  or  ever  heard  of 
such  a  being  as  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  delusion  practised 
on  me  at  the  Lord's  table,  where  I  am  eating  and 
drinking  the  real  body  and  blood  of  a  dead  man,  while 
tasting  and  smelling  bread  and  wine,  may  be  part  of  a 
most  extensive  scheme  of  imposture,  to  which  no 
limits  can  be  assigned. 


146  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

2d.  Its  Statements  must  he  compared  icith  the  re- 
sults of  experience,  and  observation.  No  one  who 
reads  the  command,  "Be  perfect,  even  as  your  Father 
in  heaven  is  perfect,"  with  reference  at  the  same  time 
to  the  state  of  the  w^orld  in  all  ages,  can  deny  that  it 
is  to  be  taken  with  a  grain  of  allowance.  Let  us  aim 
at  perfection,  but  not  dream  of  attaining  it — experience 
amply  proving  that  there  is  no  man  who  sinneth  not. 
In  Matthew  x.  34,  Christ  tells  his  disciples,  that  "he 
came  not  to  send  peace  on  earth  but  a  sword."  His- 
tory is  the  best  commentary  on  this  somewhat  harsh 
expression.  The  Gospel  occasioned  discords  in  fami- 
lies and  nations,  by  inducing  some  to  accept  its 
guidance,  while  others  rejected  it:  these  frequently 
led  to  persecutions,  which  were  the  sword  alluded  to 
in  the  text. 

3.  Passages  must  be  liar^nonized  with  established 
facts  in  scierice.  Truth  is  always  in  accordance  with 
herself.  Her  two  great  books.  Nature  and  Revelation, 
cannot  be  at  variance,  though  the  latter  seldom  trims 
her  phraseology  into  conformity  with  the  starched 
definitions  of  science  ;  for  which  every  man  of  taste 
and  discernment  likes  her  the  better.  The  expressions 
therefore  which  represent  the  earth  as  at  rest — as  being 
huilt  on  the  waters — as  having  bounds  and  limits — 
and  the  sun  as  9}ioving'  round  it,  are  not  to  be  brought 
in  collision  with  astronomy.  The  representations  of 
God  as  coming  to  a  place — deserting  it — asking 
questions — grieving — repenting,  must  be  explained 


COMMON    SENSE. 


147 


consistently  with  the  first  elements  of  natural  religion, 
which  teach  that  he  is  a  pure  Spirit,  omnipresent,  all- 
knowing,  and  above  all  change  or  perturbation. 
Lactantius,  a  Latin  Father,  nmst  have  lost  his  com- 
pass entirely,  when  he  undertook  to  prove  from  the 
Scriptures,  that  God  has  passions— thus  contradicting 
a  plain  and  evident  principle  of  reason. 

Whether  the  sacred  interpreter  will  be  required  to 
modify  the  old  expositions  of  the  first  twenty  verses  of 
the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  in  conformity  with  the  de- 
cisions  of  Geology,  is  in  the  advanced  and  advanc- 
ing state  of  that  science,  not  difficult  to  answer.     The 
proof  of  our  earth  having  existed  long  before  the  cre- 
ation of  man,  and  of  a  succession  of  mighty  changes 
having  occurred  which  required  ages  to  their  comple- 
tion, Tests  on  so  many  well  established  facts,  that  it 
would  be  sheer  folly  and  absurdity  to  deny  the  conclu- 
sion—especially, when  the  passage  admits  of  no  less 
than  two  constructions,  in  perfect  harmony  with  it. 
God  never  inspired  men  to  teach  their  fellow  men  the 
arts  and  sciences,  nor  did  he  ever  furnish  those  whom 
he  inspired  for  other  purposes,  with  a  single  scientific 
fact  above  the  level  of  their  age.     Their  mission  was 
to  impart  moral  and  rehgious  truth  :  in  all  other  re- 
spects they  thought  with  the  vulgar,  and  with  the 
vulgar  they  spake.     Had  it  been  otherwise.  Religion 
would  have  suff'ered  a  calamity,  instead  of  gaining  a 
vantage  ground.     It  would  have  lost  its  virgin  sanc- 
tity and  elevation  above  the  smoke  and  stir  of  earthly 


148  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

pursuits  ;  it  would  have  been  mixed  up  with  the  end- 
less revolutions  and  vicissitudes,  which  science  ha 
experienced  in  different  ages  ;  and  the  human  mind, 
chained  down  to  a  blind  unreasoning  faith,  would 
have  lost  every  motive  to  the  vigorous  exertion  of  it. 
excellent  and  almost  divine  faculties.  Nor  is  this  all. 
Had  the  ideas  of  the  sacred  writers  been  in  advance  of 
those  entertained  b}^  their  contemporaries,  they  would 
not  have  been  understood — or  if  understood,  excited 
only  wonder  and  ridicule  ;  in  which  case,  scant  favor 
would  have  been  shown  to  their  higher  revelations. 

Happily,  they  are  relieved  from  all  responsibility  by 
the  wise  arrangement,  which  has  committed  the  book 
of  creation  into  the  hands  of  other  servants.  Men  of 
science  (if  it  be  true  science)  are  the  apostles  of  na- 
ture ;  whose  announcements  are  entitled  to  the  same 
confidence,  which  we  profess  toward  the  apostles  of 
grace.  The  expression  is  not  too  strong.  We  affirm 
that  the  truths  daily  elicited  by  the  crucible,  the  tele- 
scope, and  the  air-pump,  the  galvanic  pile,  and  the 
geologist's  hammer,  are  perfectly  independent  of  any- 
thing laid  down  in  the  Bible  ;  and  must  not  be  sacri- 
ficed to  any  pretended  necessity  of  giving  it  a  meaning, 
at  variance  with  these  truths.  If  Paul  were  on  earth, 
and  asserted  that  water  was  a  simple  and  homogene- 
ous substance,  we  should  not  believe  him,  though  he 
accompanied  his  assertion  with  a  miracle — because  no 
miracle  would  be  so  great  as  that  which  he  requires 
us  to  believe  ;  viz.  that  a  substance  is  simple,  which 


COMMON    SENSE.  149 

the  chemist  has  proved  to  be  a  compound,  by  actually 
reducing  it  to  its  elements  and  forming  it  out  of  them, 
before  our  eyes!  Nothing  then  can  be  more  ill-judged, 
than  taking  advantage  of  a  few  artless  expressions  of 
the  sacred  writers,  so  redolent  of  their  simple  age,  and 
entirely  beyond  the  circle  of  their  inspired  ideas,  to 
raise  the  hue  and  cry  of  "  infidelity,"  against  those, 
who  independently  of  scripture  but  with  unfeigned  re- 
spect for  its  religious  authority,  pursue  their  inquiries 
into  nature.  Nothing  also  is  more  mischievous  ;  for 
it  generates  the  very  infidelity,  which  excites  so  much 
apparent  alarm. 

Great  allowance  however,  should  be  made  for  our 
venerable  order.  The  important  and  spiritual  duties 
of  our  calling  allow  little  time  for  excursions  into 
other  men's  fields  of  labor  ;  and  consequently,  in  se- 
cular branches  of  knowledge,  we  are  apt  to  be  found 
lagging  behind  the  age.  Now  it  is  extremely  difficult 
for  such,  to  feel  the  whole  force  of  a  scientific  state- 
ment. We  may  yawningly  admit  it :  but  the  belief 
is  not  a  necessity,  and  a  fate,  to  which  we  submit  as 
to  the  great  law  of  death.  Hence,  when  the  announce- 
ment seems  to  oppose  some  of  our  time-hallowed  pre- 
judices, we  refuse  all  compromise  ;  and  proceed  to  de- 
nounce it  with  the  thundering  energy  of  a  man,  who 
who  has  detected  a  black  conspiracy  to  rob  him  of  his 
Bible.  The  remedy  to  this  can  be  given  in  two 
words  :  more  light !  Nothing  dissipates  panic  terrors, 
like    acquaintance   with   the    cause — as    experience 


150  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

proves  ill  other  cases.  "  Lead  him/'  says  an  admira- 
ble little  recipe  which  we  have  read  somewhere, 
"  close  to  the  object,  taking  off  his  blinkers.  If  he 
starts,  and  throws  back  his  ears,  pat  him  and  speak 
kindly :  make  him  steadily  look  at  it — leading  him 
round  and  round.  In  a  short  time  he  will  understand 
the  thing,  become  as  gentle  as  a  lamb,  and  give  you 
no  farther  trouble." 

4.  The  Bible  cannot  he  at  issue  with  any  of  our  in- 
tuitive moral  judgments.  If  it  recommends  the 
"  cutting  off  a  right  hand  and  plucking  out  a  right 
eye,"  it  must  not  be  taken  to  mean  bodily  mutilation. 
Our  life  and  members  are  a  sacred  trust  committed  to 
us,  which  we  dare  not  trifle  with.  When  Christ  says, 
"  If  any  man  hate  not  his  father  and  mother  and  wife 
and  children,  he  cannot  be  my  disciple,"  he  is  using  a 
strong  hyperbole,  to  denote  the  greater  love  which  we 
should  bear  himself  Our  moral  sense  revolts  at  the 
idea  of  hatred  to  parents,  and  no  exposition  can  be 
tolerated,  that  would  sanction  a  feeling  so  detestable. 
In  Luke  x.  4,  he  commands  his  disciples  "  not  to  salute 
(during  one  of  their  missionary  journeys)  any  by  the 
^vay," — a  precept  which  our  Gtuaker  Brethren  obey  to 
the  letter.  But  Christ  could  never  have  intended  to  in- 
culcate rudeness  ;  it  must  therefore  mean,  "  Do  not  lose 
time  by  holding  unnecessary  intercourse  with  your 
friends  ;  use  all  expedition  in  journeying  to  the  scene 
of  your  labors."  Equally  absurd  is  their  well  known 
exposition  of  the  precepr,  ''  When  smitten  on  the  one 


COMMON    SENSE.  151 

cheek,  turn  the  other  also  ;"  as  if  the  Saviour  disap- 
proved of  self-defence. 

On  a  similar  principle,  we  explain  those  passages, 
which  exhibit  the  prophets  as  doing  by  command  of 
God,  things  inconsistent  with  natural  propriety.  Hosea, 
for  example,  is  commanded  to  marry  two  impure  wo- 
men ;  Ezekiel  to  lie  on  his  left  side  a  year  and  a 
month,  looking  at  an  iron  pan — then  turn  over  to  his 
right  side,  on  which  he  must  lie  forty  additional  days — 
eating  during  the  whole  pieriod  a  compost  of  lentiles, 
beans,  barley,  millet  and  fitches,  prepared  in  a  manner 
most  decidedly  disagreeable.  We  affiim  boldly,  that 
the  expositors  who  consider  these  and  others  whiA 
might  be  mentioned,  ^  real  transactions,  dishonor  the 
word  of  God,  while  they  betray  a  want  of  taste  that  is 
astounding.  Beyond  all  doubt,  they  were  symbolical 
representations,  that  passed  before  the  Prophet's  mind 
in  his  inspire  ecstasy. 

The  rule  under  our  notice,  requiring  us  to  try  ex- 
pressions by  the  standard  of  common  sense,  is  of  great 
use  in  explaining  a  class  of  propositions  very  frequent 
in  Scripture,  which  seem  to  have  no  limit  in  their  ap- 
plication, but  must  be  restricted  by  the  mind  of  the 
reader.  They  are  thrown  out  by  the  writer,  with  the 
noble  carelessness  of  one  who  takes  a  strong  view  of 
a  subject,  and  determines  to  strike  with  it — not  caring 
for  the  great  swarm  of  little  huts,  that  invariably  rise 
before  the  mind  of  a  feeble  thinker,  and  darken  the 
principal  idea.     We  shall  add  a  few  examples. 


152  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Absolute  expressions,  often  denote  only  what  usually 
takes  place.  Solomon  tells  us  in  Proverbs  xxii.  6, 
•'train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  sh-ould  go,  and  when 
he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it."  This  is  not 
always  true :  Odd  as  it  may  seem,  Solomon  himself 
was  an  exception.  Yet  it  is  true  generally :  a  wise 
and  pious  education  gives  good  reason  to  expect  the 
divine  blessing.  Sometimes  they  only  denote  the  ten- 
dency  of  a  thing.  Proverbs  xv.  1,  '"'a  soft  answer 
turneth  away  wrath."  It  is  calculated  to  produce  this 
happy  effect.  Paul  declares,  that  the  ''goodness  of 
God  leadeth  to  repentance."  With  submission  to 
Ae  Apostle — not  always.  Too  often,  it  corrupts  and 
hardens. 

At  other  times,  they  only  indicate  duty — right — 
official  obligation.  Thus  Solomon  says,  Proverbs 
xvi.  10,  "a  divine  sentence  is  in  tbe  lips  of  the  king, 
his  mouth  transgresseth  not  in  judgment."  Peter,  in 
like  manner  says  of  the  civil  magistrate,  "he  is  the 
minister  of  God  for  good,  a  terror  to  evil  workers  and 
a  praise  to  them  that  do  well."  Such  declarations 
show  what  he  is  dejiire  :  the  de  facto,  is  quite  another 
question,  as  Peter  himself  experienced  shortly  after  • 
being  put  to  death  by  one  of  these  divine  ministers 
in  the  most  cruel  manner.  The  same  principle  we 
apply  to  those  statements  whicli  exhibit  the  Redeemer 
as  dying  for  "all" — for  "every  man" — for  the  "sins 
of  the  world."  They  contain  a  precious  charter  of 
privilege — right — and  consequent  obligation  to  accept 


COMMON    SENSE.  153 

him.  He  is  by  office  the  ivorld^s  saviour:  all  may 
enjoy  the  blessings  which  he  hath  purchased,  and  are 
excluded  simply  by  unbelief. 

Occasionally,  we  find  assertions  broadly  made  that 
refer  only  to  external  character  and  profession.  Paul 
describes  apostates  as  counting  "the  blood  of  the 
covenant  wherewith  they  were  sanctified,  an  unholy 
thing."  They  were  so  in  appearance.  Having  avowed 
their  attachment  before  the  church  and  the  world, 
they  were  recognized  as  true  disciples  and  heirs  of 
the  promise.  Yet  of  such,  another  Apostle  declares, 
"they  went  out  from  us  because  they  were  not  of  us: 
for  if  they  had  been  of  us,  they  never  would  have 
departed."  So,  all  credible  professors  are  called  "  saints  " 
and  "holy,"  The  sacred  writers  always  treat  them 
as  being  w^hat  they  ought  to  be.  This  practice  of 
naming  things  from  their  appearance  is  quite  com. 
mon.  The  impostor  Hananiah  for  instance,  is  called 
in  Jeremiah  xxviii.  1,  a  "  Prophet."  False  pretenders 
to  piety,  are  in  Matthew  ix.  13,  called  righteous:  "I 
am  not  come  to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to 
repentance."  Paul  in  1  Corinthians  i.  21,  names  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  "  foolishness,"  because  it  was 
thought  such  by  the  hauglity  Greek. 

There  are  other  ways  in  w4iich  propositions  stated 
absolutely,  must  be  limited.  Indeed,  so  various  are 
they,  that  no  definite  rule  can  be  laid  down  which 
will  apply  to  every  case :  each  should  receive  the 
modification  dictated  by  common  sense.  The  precept 
7 


154  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

for  instance,  requiring  us  "  not  to  revenge  ourselves," 
forbids  the  taking  private  vengeance,  not  judicial  pun- 
ishment. Christ,  in  Matt.  v.  33,  commands  us  to 
"swear  not."  The  connection  shows  us,  that  he 
refers  to  unnecessary  and  extrajudicial  oaths ;  but  in- 
dependently of  arguments  from  the  context,  w^e  might 
safely  assume  that  he  never  could  have  intended  to 
nullify  an  institution  almost  coeval  with  the  human 
race,  and  which  he  sanctioned  by  personal  example. 
We  are  commanded  in  like  manner,  to  "take  no 
thought  for  the  morrow" — to  '-judge  not,  that  we  be 
not  judged  " — to  "  pray  without  ceasing" — expressions 
which  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  misunderstand — though 
it  would  not  be  safe  to  stake  much  on  the  assertion  ; 
many  betraying  a  perversity  of  thinking  where  Scrip- 
ture is  concerned,  that  on  any  other  subject  would  be 
ludicrous.  The  Wrongheads  in  theology  are  still  a 
numerous  generation,  though  we  hope  decreasing. 


RULE    VII. 

Study  attentively  the  tropes  and  figures  of  the  sa- 
cred writings.  These  are  deviations  from  natural 
simplicity  of  expression  :  one  idea  being  substituted  for 
another,  and  made  to  represent  it  on  the  ground  of 
some  relation  between  them  ;  as  when  I  call  a  warrior, 
a  lion  ;  compare  the  march  of  an  undisciplined  army^ 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  155 

to  the  flight  of  a  noisy  flock  of  cranes,  or  address  a 
dead  or  absent  person  as  if  possessing  hfe.  They 
abound  in  all  languages,  and  in  many  instances  are 
the  very  language  of  nature.  The  least  excitement  of 
feeling  impels  a  man  of  ordinary  fancy  to  express  his 
thought,  not  by  the  word  directly  appropriated  to  it,  but 
by  some  accessory  idea,  which  he  prefers  on  account 
of  its  greater  vivacity  and  beauty.  Thus,  old  age  is 
the  evening  of  life;  youth  the  7norning ;  error  is 
blindness  ;  a  great  statesman,  the  pillar  of  the  com- 
monwealth. The  fields  smile — the  stones  cry  out — 
the  heavens  weep.  No  one  fails  to  perceive  the  su- 
perior liveliness  and  brilliancy  of  such  modes  of  ex- 
pression. 

Nor  will  their  frequent  occurrence  in  the  Bible  sur- 
prise us,  when  we  consider  that  much  of  it  is  poetry, 
and  its  birth-place  the  imaginative  East.  Its  figures 
are  not  only  numerous  but  exceedingly  bold — some- 
times even  startling  to  an  occidental  ear  and  a  taste 
formed  on  classic  models.  "  The  blood  of  Abel  cries 
from  the  ground."  '•  God  makes  drunk  his  arrows 
with  blood."  "  The  heavens  celebrate  the  praises  of 
Jehovah."  '•  The  floods  clap  their  hands."  "  When 
Israel  came  out  of  Egypt,  the  sea  saw  it  and  fled,  Jor- 
dan was  driven  back,  the  mountains  skipped  like  rams 
and  the  little  hills  like  lambs."  Such  is  the  glowing 
language  that  meets  us  in  every  page,  and  justifies  the 
remark  that  it  is  by  far  the  richest  volume  of  fancy  in 


156  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

our   literature.     The   tropes   which  occur   most  fre- 
quently, are  the  following  : — 

1.  Metonymy.  This  ^denotes  the  substitution  of 
one  word  for  another^  lohere  the  thoughts  are  closely 
conjoined  and  rise  up  together  in  the  mind,  though 
there  be  no  proper  resemblance  between  them.  Such 
are  the  ideas  of  cause  and  effect — subject  and  attribute — 
container  and  contained — sign  and  thing  signified. 

The  cause  is  put  for  the  effect.  Thus  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  put  for  the  gifts  and  influence  of  the  Spirit. 
1  Thess.  V.  19,  "quench  not  the  Spirit."  Lukexi.  13, 
"how  much  more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him."  Rev.  i.  10,  '•'  I 
was  in  spirit  on  the  Lord's  day,  i.  e.  a  state  of  mind 
caused  by  the  Spirit.  In  the  same  sense  Jesus  was 
"  led  by  the  spirit  into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted  of 
the  devil :"  he  went  there,  under  a  divine  prompting 
and  impulse.  Parents  are  sometimes  put  for  their 
posterity,  as  Judah  for  the  Jews  ;  and  in  Ezek.  xxxiv. 
23,  David  is  used  for  Messiah,  his  promised  son  and 
successor  to  his  throne :  '•  I  will  set  up  one  shepherd 
over  them,  and  he  shall  feed  them,  even  7/zy  servant 
DavidP  Frequently  the  converse  of  our  rule  takes 
place — the  effect  being  put  for  the  cause.  Christ  is 
called  "our  life,"  because  he  is  its  author.  "He  is 
made  of  God  unto  us  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctifi- 
cation,  and  redemption  :"  i.  e.  God  has  constituted 
him  the  source  of  all  those  blessings.  In  Hebrews  vi. 
1,  the  Apostle  calls  sinful  works    "  dead."     In  what 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  157 

sense  are  they  dead  ?  Some  reply,  because  they  have 
no  moral  principle  or  vitality  in  them :  but  this  is  too 
weak.  They  are  probably  so  called,  metonymically, 
because  they  lead  to  death.  In  Rom.  vii.  7,  Paul  asks 
"  is  the  law  sin  ?"  he  means  to  inquire,  whether  it 
produces  sin.  ^ 

The  container  is  'put  for  the  contained.  A  table, 
denotes  the  food  placed  on  it :  "  Let  their  table  become 
a  snare."  A  cup  stands  for  the  liquor  it  contains  :  1 
Cor.  X.  16,  '•'  The  cup  of  blessing  which  we  bless." 
Heaven,  for  God  himself.  Hence  the  often  recurring 
phrase,  "  kingdom  of  heaven,"  applied  to  the  new  dis- 
pensation of  Messiah.  There  is  no  direct  allusion  in 
it  to  the  heavenly  state,  but  simply  to  its  divine 
origin  :  in  other  places  it  is  expressly  called  the  king- 
dom of  God,  Matt.  xix.  24,  Luke  xiii.  29.  House j 
signifies  the  family  residing  in  it.  Gen.  vii.  1,  "  En- 
ter thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark."  This  is  its 
meaning  in  Ex.  i.  21,  which  states,  that  because  the 
"  midwives  feared  God,  he  made  them  houses."  If  the 
idea  of  giving  two  midwives  a  pair  of  houses  be  a  lit- 
tle odd,  there  is  nothing  strange  in  Divine  Providence 
rewarding  their  kindness  to  the  families  of  his  people, 
by  giving  them  large  and  flourishing  families  of  their 
own.  On  this  use  of  the  word,  Psedobaptists  found  one 
of  their  strongest  arguments  for  infant  baptism.  It  is 
contended,  that  the  "  houses"  which  the  Apostles  bap- 
tized, must  have  included  all  of  the  family,  young  as 
well  as  old — such  being  the  way  in  which  the  term  is 
uniformly  employed. 


158  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

The  sign  for  the  thing  signified  ;  as  a  sceptre  or 
shepherd's  staff  for  power.  To  "Uft  up  the  hand" 
is  to  swear :  "  to  bow  the  knee "  is  to  do  homage  : 
to  "  put  on  sackcloth  "  is  to  monrn.  Baptism  is  by  a 
like  metonymy  identified  with  the  moral  renovation 
which  it  symbolizes.  The  neglect  of  this  figure  led 
the  ancient  Fathers,  who  are  followed  by  many  in  the 
present  day,  to  hold  that  baptism  was  itself  regenera- 
tion— founding  their  opinion  on  the  words  of  Christ 
to  Nlcodemus,  "  except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and 
the  spirit,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  ;''  and 
the  language  of  Paul,  Tit.  iii.  5,  "  he  saved  us  by  the 
w^ashing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  From  these  expressions  they  infer,  that  a 
positive  renewing  grace  is  actually  communicated  to 
the  subject  of  the  ordinance,  and  with  it  a  complete 
forgiveness  of  sin  previously  committed.  Were  we 
believers  in  this  doctrine,  we  should  spend  a  consider- 
able part  of  our  time  in  marvelhng  at  the  singular 
taste  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  declined  administering 
baptism,  except  in  a  few  extraordinary  cases ;  and 
even  thanks  God  that  he  had  regenerated  none  but 
Crispus,  Gains,  and  the  household  of  Stephanus, 
1  Cor.  i.  16.  The  same  Apostle,  however,  in  another 
place,  expressly  claims  the  honor  of  having  begotten 
them,  though  he  had  no  agency  in  their  baptism  ; 
1  Cor.  iv.  15,  "In  Christ  Jesus  I  have  begotten  you 
through  the  Gospel."  Equally  strange  is  it,  that  our 
blessed  Lord  should  have  declined  to  perform  a  rite, 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  159 

which,  for  (he  stupendous  effects  produced  by  it  on  the 
corrupt  and  darkened  mind,  infinitely  surpassed   all 
his  miracles  on  the  body  !     The  doctrine  seems,  on 
other  accounts  also,  really  incredible  ;  and  we  deem  it 
far  more  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  moral  renovation 
is  coupled  with  baptism  in  the  passages  quoted  above, 
because  of  the  sacramental  and  symbolical  relation 
between  them.     As   in   Acts  vii.  8,    circumcision   is 
called  the  "  Covenant,"  because  it  was  the  sign  of  the 
Covenant :  so  baptism  is  the  '-  washing  of  regenera- 
tion," because  it  is  the  visible  token  of  it,  on  the  appli- 
cation of  which,  a  man  becomes  accredited  as  a  citizen 
of  the   great   spiritual  commonwealth,  which  Christ 
has  washed  in  his  blood. 

Frequently,  a  sentiment  or  action  is  used  for  the 
object  with  which  it  is  conversant.     Faith  signifies 
not  the  belief  but  the  doctrine  believed :  "  Contend 
earnestly  for  the  faith."     Hope  stands  for  Christ,  the 
great  object  of  hope  :  Col.  i.  27,  "Christ,  the  hope  of 
glory."    Desire,  for    the   thing  desired :  Ezek.  xxiv. 
16,  "Behold  I  take  away  the  desire  of  thine  eyes  [the 
prophet's  wife]  wnth  a  stroke."     Thus  Christ  may  be 
called  "  the  desire  of  the  nations,"  on  account  of  the 
earnest  longing  for  a  Saviour,  and  actual  expectation 
of  one  about  to  appear,  which  preceded  his  advent. 
The  passage  in  Haggai,  however,  where  the  expres- 
sion is  used,  will  hardly  bear  an  immediate  reference 
to   the   Messiah.      The  context,  as  well   as   certain 
grammatical  considerations,  prove  that  the  treasures 


160  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

of  the  Gentiles  are  meant,  which  the  prophet  says 
shall  be  brought  in  great  abundance  to  adorn  the 
second  temple.  That  the  whole  paragraph  contains 
a  prophecy  of  Christ  is  almost  certain  ;  but  nothing  of 
that  kind  is  involved  in  this  particular  phrase. 

2d.  Synecdoche,  is  the  substitution  of  a  whole  for 
the  j)o,rtj  or  a  j>art  for  the  whole.  Of  the  first  kind, 
the  following  are  examples.  "  The  "  world,''  denotes 
sometimes  the  Roman  Empire,  which  was  a  very 
small  portion  of  it.  "  Augustus  decreed  that  the 
whole  world  should  be  taxed."  '•  All,"  is  put  for  a 
single  individual.  Thus  it  is  said  of  King  Joash,  that 
his  servants  slew  him  for  the  blood  of  the  sons  of 
Jehoida,  the  priest,  2  Chron.  xxiv.  25.  But  it  appears 
from  the  20th  verse,  that  Joash  had  killed  but  one 
son,  the  Prophet  Zechariah.  In  Judges  xii.  7,  it  is 
said  that  Jephtha  was  "  buried  in  the  cities  of  Gilead." 
He  could  be  buried  of  course  only  in  one.  The 
neglect  of  this  synecdoche  led  some  Jewish  commen- 
tators to  invent  the  strange  fable,  that  to  punish  him 
for  the  sacrifice  of  his  daughter,  his  body  was  chopped 
into  pieces,  and  a  part  interred  in  each  of  the  prin- 
cipal cities. 

Sometimes,  All  is  equivalent  to  Many.  "  All  Jeru- 
salem went  out  to  John  the  Baptist."  The  devil 
showed  to  our  Redeemer  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
earth  and  their  glory."  At  others,  it  denotes  all 
kinds  :  Acts  x.  12.  Peter  saw  a  great  sheet,  "  in 
which  were  [literally]  all    four-footed  beasts  of  the 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  161 

field."  Our  translators  have  rendered  the  expression 
more  intelligible,  but  in  so  doing  forsaken  the  original, 
as  they  have  done  also  in  translating  Matt.  iv.  23 ; 
where  the  Greek  says  that  Christ  "healed  all  sickness 
and  disease  among  the  people."  All  manner  of  sick- 
ness, is  undoubtedly  the  idea  intended.  On  this  sy- 
necdochical  use  of  the  word,  those  who  contend  that 
in  no  sense  can  Christ  be  said  to  die  for  the  non-elect, 
found  their  explications  of  the  numerous  passages  ob- 
jected to  their  view.  Nothing  more  is  meant,  they 
say,  than  that  he  died  for  "  all  kinds  of  men."  Hap- 
pily, these  gentlemen  are  themselves  a  synecdoche — 
and,  we  trust,  a  small  one — of  the  party  to  which  they 
belong.  Calvinism  can  boast  of  a  different  class  of 
expositors,  among  whom  is  found  Calvin  himself — 
than  whom  few  use  stronger  language,  in  describing 
the  magnificent  fulness  and  universality  of  the  gra- 
cious provisions  of  the  Gospel. 

The  fart  is  put  for  the  luhole  ;  as  in  Acts  xxvii. 
37,  '•  There  were  in  the  ship  two  hundred  souls."  The 
soul  here  comprehends  the  entire  man.  Many,  is 
substituted  for  all ;  Dan.  xii.  2,  '•'  Many  that  sleep  in 
the  dust  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and 
some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt:"  the  prophet 
certainly  does  not  mean  to  describe  a  partial  resurrec- 
tion in  these  remarkable  words.  Rom.  v.  19,  '•'  By 
one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made  sinners  :" 
who  the  many  are,  we  find  in  the  former  verse  :  "  By 
the  offence  of  one,  judgment  came  upon  all  men  to 
7* 


162  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

condemnation."  A  striking  example  of  the  figure  we 
have  in  Ex.  xii.  40,  whicli  has  given  much  trouble  to 
critics :  "  Now  the  sojourning  of  the  children  of  Isra- 
el who  dwelt  in  Egypt,  was  four  hundred  and  thirty 
years."  But  it  can  easily  be  proved,  that  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years  include  the  entire  period  from  the 
callino-  of  Abraham  out  of  Ur  of  the  Chaldees :  how 
then  are  the  Israehtes  represented  as  dwelling  during 
that  whole  period  in  Egypt  ?  We  answer,  that  the 
part  is  put  for  the  whole — Egypt,  for  the  entire  j-egion 
in  which  Abraham  sojourned  with  his  descendants. 
Beino"  an  important  part,  and  that  in  which  they  re- 
sided last,  the  writer  singles  it  out  to  represent  all  the 
other  scenes  of  their  pilgrimage.  The  whole  thought 
is  given  by  the Septuagint  translators,  who  insert  after 
Egypt,  ^'^and  in  the  land  of  CanaanP 

On  Synecdoches  of  this  kind,  is  founded  a  general 
canon  very  useful  to  be  remembered  in  exposition, 
viz :  that  Scripture  often  exhibits  a  general  truth  in 
the  form  of  a  particular  case — not  that  it  is  the  only 
one,  but  that  it  explains  the  principle,  and  suggests 
the  mode  of  applying  it  to  all  others.  The  language 
and  education  of  the  writers  indisposed  them  for  deal- 
ing in  abstractions  :  everything  is  definite  and  parti- 
cular, and  may  be  almost  pictured  to  the  eye.  But 
we  shall  do  them  the  grossest  injustice,  if  we  suppose 
they  rested  here.  There  was  doubtless  a  great  ge- 
neral idea  distinctly  before  their  mind,  of  which  the 
picture  was  the  symbolical  representation.     When  the 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  ^        -  163 

wise  man  in  Prov.  xx.  10,  says,  "Divers  weights  and 
divers  measures  are  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord," 
who  can  doubt  that  he  thought  of  the  other  innumer- 
able frauds  practised  by  shopkeepers  on  tiieir  custom- 
ers ?  The  Psahnist  tells  us,  that  '•  the  good  man  is 
ever  merciful  and  lendethr  Accommodating  a  poor 
and  industrious  man  with  a  loan  of  money  is  true 
kindness,  but  not  the  only  expression  of  it.  Christ, 
in  Matt.  vi.  1,  forbids  us  to  do  our  alms  before  men  ;" 
he  means  that  we  should  conceal,  if  possible,  all  our 
benevolent  actions.  In  John  xiii.  14,  he  says,  '-'Ye 
ought  to  wash  each  other's  feet :"  he  might  equally 
have  said,  for  it  is  what  he  intended,  '•'  Be  humble 
and  mutually  affectionate." 

In  a  like  w^ay,  those  who  justify  the  practice  of 
granting  divorce  for  other  causes  than  adultery,  in- 
terpret the  words  of  Christ  in  Matthew  v.  32  :  "  Who- 
soever shall  put  away  his  wife,  save  for  the  crime  of 
fornication,  causeth  her  to  commit  adultery,  and  who- 
soever shall  marry  her  that  is  divorced,  committeth 
adultery."  The  fornication  here  stated  to  be  the  only 
ground,  they  view  as  the  principal  one,  standing  for 
others  equally  serious,  as  desertion,  violence,  and  con- 
tinued ill-treatment.  They  contend,  that  the  scope  of 
the  Redeemer  is  to  attack  the  doctrine  of  arbitrary 
divorce^  not  to  lay  down  in  form  the  justificatory 
causes ;  and  appeal  to  the  parallel  passages,  Mark  x. 
4,  Luke  xvi.  18,-  which  give  the  prohibition,  without 
even  specifying  fornication  as  an   exception.     Why, 


164  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE." 

• 

they  askj  should  the  statement  of  Matthew  be  con- 
sidered a  complete  enumeration  of  tlie  justifiable  causes 
of  divorce,  when  the  other  evangelists  give  none  what- 
ever ?  declaring,  absolutely,  "  Whoso  shall  put  away 
his  wife,  and  marrieth  another,  committeth  adultery  ?" 
May  it  not  rather  be  viewed  as  a  synecdochical  ex- 
pression of  the  thought,  that  no  divorce  is  valid  which 
is  not  founded  on  the  strongest  reasons  7  We  think 
the  argument  of  these  gentlemen  is  exceedingly 
plausible,  if  not  entirely  satisfactory ;  and  remember 
having  so  entirely  convinced  by  it  a  worthy  old  friend, 
who  paid  daily  visits  with  great  fear  and  trembling 
to  an  equally  worthy  lady,  divorced  for  causes  not 
laid  down  in  St.  Matthew,  that  he  came  to  the  point 
at  once,  and  rejoices  when  he  hears  the  name  of  our 
figure  mentioned. 

We  have  a  lingering  doubt,  whether  the  example 
just  given  be  not  somewhat  strained.  Our  next  is 
much  more  clear  and  certain.  The  principle  we  are 
illustrating,  is  of  special  use  in  explaining  the  Mosaic 
law,  which  some  have  degraded  into  a  mere  civil  in- 
stitute, enjoining  nothing  but  overt  acts  and  a  routine 
of  external  observances.  Nothing  seems  more  evident 
than  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  legislator 
is  giving  e.Ta?nples,  leaving  the  generalization  to  the 
understanding  of  those  whom  he  addressed.  Paul 
was  decidedly  of  this  opinion,  as  appears  from  his 
comment  on  the  precept:  "Thou  shalt  not  muzzle 
the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn."     He  contends,  that 


TROPES    AND    ^GURES.  165 

Moses  designed  it  not  so  much  for  oxen  as  for  men, 
teaching  hy  it,  that  the  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire. 
Nor  can  it  be  reasonably  doubted,  that  the  command 
not  to  "seethe  the  kid  in  its  mother's  milk" — not  to 
'■'■  plough  with  an  ox  and  ass  together  " — not  to  "  sow 
different  seeds  in  the  same  ground,"  with  a  hundred 
others,  must  be  explained  on  the  same  principle. 
The  good  old  custom,  therefore,  of  spiritualizing,  or 
giving  moral  extent  to  the  ten  commandments,  which 
some  modern  writers  object  to,  is  a  sound  one,  and 
justified  by  all  the  laws  of  interpretation :  the  Redeemer 
has  given  a  most  beautiful  example  of  it  in  his  ser- 
mon on  the  mount.  This  subject  is  well  worth  the 
student's  attention.  A  habit  of  generalizing,  without 
straining  or  doing  violence  to  Scripture — of  rising 
from  particulars  to  great  catholic  principles,  which 
come  home  to  every  man's  business  and  bosom,  is  one 
of  the  most  valuable  acquisitions  he  can  make  in  his 
theological  course. 

3.  Metaphor,  is  founded  on  the  rese7nhlance  between 
objects;  being  the  substitution  of  one  thing  for 
another,  which  is  like  it.  When  I  say,  "  God  is  my 
protector,"  I  express  the  thought  in  its  simplicity : 
When  I  say,  '•  He  is  my  shield,"  I  clothe  it  in  me- 
taphor. In  no  figure  are  the  sacred  oracles  so  rich  as 
in  this  :  but  httle  need  be  said,  as  there  is  seldom  any 
difficulty  in  explaining  it.  The  great  point  to  be  re- 
membered is,  not  to  press  the  resemblance  beyond  the 
boundary  intended  by  the  author.     When  Christ  de- 


166  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

clares,  that  lie  will  come  as  a  thief,  suddenness  of  ap- 
pearance^ not  icickedness  of  purpose  is  the  thought 
which  he  illustrates. 

Anthiopopatheia  is  reducible  to  this  class,  which 
exhibits  the  Divine  Being,  as  clothed  with  the  attri- 
butes, and  pel  forming  the  actions  of  men.  Thus  he 
has  '-eyes"  and  "ears" — and  an  "  arm  that  is  full  of 
•power."  "His  bowels  are  moved  ;"  at  his  coming  "  the 
earth  shook  and  trembled — he  bowed  the  heavens  and 
came  down,  and  darkness  was  under  his  feet,  and  he 
did  ride  upon  a  cherub  and  did  fly — the  mountains 
saw  him  and  quaked,  the  deep  uttered  his  voice,  and 
lifted  up  his  hands  on  high."  Occasionally,  we  find  an 
accumulation  of  these  images  in  one  description,  on 
which  the  poet  expends  the  whole  force  of  his  genius. 
Some  of  these  passages  (called  '"' theophanies''''  are  aw- 
full}^  sublime — of  which  the  18th  Psalm  and  the  3d 
chapter  of  Habakkuk  may  be  quoted  as  specimens  ;  the 
last  of  which,  describing  the  appearance  of  God  for  the 
deliverance  of  his  people,  leaves  behind  it  at  a  measure- 
less distance,  the  loftiest  strains  of  the  classic  lyre. 

In^explaining  passages  of  an  anthropopathic  cha- 
racter, the  rule  is  plain.  They  must  be  under- 
stood in  a  way  suitable  to  the  infinite  majesty  of  God, 
and  purged  from  everything  savoring  of  impurity  or 
imperfection.  His  "  eye"  is  his  infinite  knowledge  : 
his  "arm."  is  his  almighty  power :  the  sounding  of  his 
bowels,"  is  his  tender  love  and  compassion:  his  "re- 
pentance," is  his  purpose  to  change  the  course  of  his 


\ 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  167 

providence  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons,  springing 
out  of  moral  conduct  of  his  creatures  :  he  is  "  angry,'' 
when  he  punishes  the  sinner;  and  his  •■fury,"  paints 
the  severity  of  their  doom. 

The  prevalence  of  this  figure  in  scripture,  has  given 
occasion  to  much  puerile  declamation  concerning  the 
"  rude  and  imperfect  ideas  entertained  of  God  in  early 
times" — as  if  the  saints  of  the  Old  Testament  really 
believed  in  the  materiahty  of  the  Divine  Being  !  The 
fancy  deserves  no  refutation,  as  it  is  purely  absurd. 
The  truth  is — ive  need  the  same  expedient,  however 
unwilling  to  own  it,  for  imparting  warmth  and  fixed- 
ness to  our  dim  conceptions  of  the  great  and  incom- 
prehensible First  Cause.  They  who  maintain  the 
contrary — who  think  that  they  can  carry  on  their  de- 
votions without  resorting  to  such  "  unphilosophical'' 
methods  of  exciting  emotion,  are  mistaken,  and  would 
give  us  a  religion  entirely  unfit  for  human  nature. 
Imagination  must  come  to  the  aid  of  reason,  and  pro- 
vide it  with  sensible  ideas,  to  be  a  support  to  its  feeble- 
ness. Perhaps,  the  whole  of  the  magnificent  scheme 
of  our  redemption  rests  on  the  anthropopathic  idea — 
the  incarnation  of  the  eternal  Son  being  a  substantial, 
living  theophani/,  intended  to  furnish  the  worshipper 
with  a  visible  object,  to  which  his  contemplations  may 
be  directed,  while  he  attempts  to  leap  the  immense 
abyss  between  him  and  the  Creator.  When  without 
this  aid  and  on  mere  rationalistic  principles,  he  under- 
takes the  work,  how  is  he  lost  in  the  endeavor  !     He 


168  INTERPRETATION    OF   SCRIPTURE. 

finds  in  a  moment,  that  he  has  no  wings  for  such  a 
flight :  his  affections  cannot  go  forth  to  clasp  a  cold 
and  barren  abstraction,  and  he  exclaims,  with  a  dreary- 
feeling  of  perplexity,  "  O  that  I  knew  where  I  might 
find  him,  that  I  might  go  even  to  his  seat!"  But  the 
Gospel  steps  in  with  its  cheering  revelations.  Heaven 
opens — and  an  amiable  man  appears,  seated  on  a 
throne,  and  yet  looking  down  upon  him  with  the 
tender  regard  of  an  elder  brother  who  died  for  his 
sake,  "  It  is  my  Saviour !"  he  exclaims — "  it  is  my 
God !!"  Hisimagination  is  at  once  delightfully  excited. 
His  scattered  thoughts  have  something  on  which  they 
can  rally  and  concentre ;  faith  becomes  actual  vision ; 
and  with  all  the  feelings  of  a  child,  he  can  draw  near 
to  the  heavenly  Majesty — for  he  hears  that  Saviour's 
own  declaration,  "  He  who  hath  seen  me,  hath  seen 
the  Father."  Let  us  be  thankful  that  it  is  so — and 
bless  our  wise  and  merciful  Parent  that  when  he  con- 
trived a  religion  for  us,  he  did  not  call  in  feelosofers  to 
his  council ! 

Prosopopoeia,  is  another  form  of  metaphor,  in  which 
human  actions  and  life  are  ascribed  to  inanimate  or 
irrational  objects.  Examples  are  very  frequent,  and 
some  exceedingly  beautiful :  but  they  are  aJl  easily 
understood. 

4.  Allegory,  is  a  figure  in  which  one  thing  is  ex- 
jyressed,  and  another  understood.  It  may  be  defined 
a  continued  metaphor,  or  an  image  founded  on  resem- 
blance, carried  out  into  a  variety  of  details,  for  the 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  169 

purpose  of  inculcating  some  moral  truth.  Nathan's 
parable  of  the  poor  man  and  his  ewe-lamb  ;  the  de- 
scription of  the  vine  in  the  80th  Psalm ;  Jotham's 
apologue  of  the  election  of  a  king  by  the  trees,  in  the 
6th  of  Judges,  and  Paul's  representation  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  body  in  1  Cor.  xii.  are  fine  examples.  All 
the  parables  belong  to  this  class.  Their  only  pecu- 
liarity is,  that  they  narrate  a  series  of  fictitious  events ; 
other  allegories  are  descriptive.  But  this  makes  no 
difference  in  their  nature,  or  the  laws  of  interpreting 
them. 

Allegories  consist  of  two  parts  ;  the  sensible  image 
or  similitude,  as  drawn  out  into  a  series  of  imaginary 
facts,  which  we  may  call  the  shell :  and  the  doctrine 
of  moral  truth  illustrated,  w^hich  may  be  called  the 
kernel.  The  latter,  is  of  course,  not  expressed,  being 
contained  in  the  shell,  which  mus(  be  broken  before 
we  become  its  masters.  Practice,  however,  and  the 
exercise  of  a  little  common  sense,  makes  the  operation 
a  very  easy  one.  There  is  ahvays  something  in  the 
connection,  or  the  occasion,  or  the  accompanying 
remarks  of  the  speaker,  or  the  nature  of  the  thing 
itself,  which  informs  us  what  great  thought  is  to  be 
elucidated.  There  are  tw^o  important  rules  which  the 
interpreter  must  observe  in  relation  to  this  figure. 

1.  Never  seek  for  it;  nor  turn  into  allegory,  what 
admits  of  being  understood  in  a  plain  and  obvious 
sense.  The  rage  for  discovering  mystical  significa- 
tions in  Scripture,  is  one  of  the  worst  diseases  with 


170  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

which  a  young  student  can  be  infected.     It  has  led  to 
that  infinite  multitude  of  types^  which  disfigure  the 
writings  of  many  otherwise   excellent   writers,    and 
throw  a  darkness,  that  may  be  felt  over  the  sermons 
of  many  of  our  preachers.     A  type  is  a  person  or 
thing  in  the  Old  Testament,  supposed  to  prefigure  a 
person   or   thing   in  the   New.      It    is,    therefore,    a 
divinely  appointed   practical   Allegory,  and  was  de- 
signed to  prepare  the   minds  of  those  living  in  the 
Theocracy,    for   the    farther    developments    of    truth 
which   should   characterize  the  age  of  the  Messiah. 
In  this  point  of  view,  a  wise  and  well  arranged  system 
of  types  was  an  admirable  expedient.     They  illus- 
trated, in  a  way  peculiarly  lively  and  picturesque,  the 
great  principles  of  moral  government,  which  remained 
to  be  unfolded  in  the  latter  day  ;  so  that  no  shock 
should  be  given  to  the  pious  mind  by  their  unexpected 
novelty.     "Sacrifices,"  made  the  people  familiar  with 
the  idea  of  substitution.     The  "mercy  seat."  on  which 
the  Divine  throne  was  erected,  yearly  sprinkled  with 
blood,   was  a    speaking    allegory,    from    which    they 
could  not  but  infer  something  that  prepared  them  for 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  reconciliation.     Their  water 
lustrations  suggested  the  necessities  of  moral  renova- 
tion.    The  like  may  be  said  of  typical  persons.     The 
royal  David,  assisted  them  to  conceive  of  a  great  theo- 
cratic monarch,  whose  kingdom  was  to  be  "an  ever- 
lasting  kingdom,    and  of  whose   government   there 
should  be  no  end."     The  mysterious  king  of  Salem, 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  171 

SO  abruptly  introduced  in  patriarchal  history,  and  so 
abruptly  withdrawn,  in  whom  the  attributes  of  priest- 
hood and  royalty  were  so  strangely  combined,  and  to 
whom  Abraham  himself  paid  homage,  was  well  cal- 
culated to  arrest  the  reflecting  spirit,  and  induce  the 
suspicion  at  least,  that  a  new  order  of  things  might 
arise,  which  would  exhibit  the  august  spectacle  of  a 
priest  upon  a  throne.  We  need  not  suppose  that  they 
perceived  the  full  significance  of  these  symbolical 
representations.  It  is  enough  that  they  suggested 
great  and  important  hints — seeds  of  truth,  rather  than 
truth  itself,  which  after  lying  buried  and  torpid  in  the 
depths  of  the  soul  during  the  long  winter  of  the 
ancient  economy,  quickened  into  glorious  life,  '•  when 
the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  was  come,  and  the 
voice  of  the  turtle  was  heard  in  their  land." 

If  now  the  question  is  asked,  how  far  the  system 
may  be  carried  out :  we  answer,  so  far  as  it  pleases 
God,  and  no  farther.  It  is  his  prerogative  to  institute 
ordinances  for  his  church,  and  when  he  does,  he  lets 
us  know  it.  If  Samson  be  an  appointed  emblem  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  find  it  in 
the  Old  or  New  Testament ;  if  they  be  silent  on  the 
point,  all  his  strength  shall  not  compel  my  assent.  I 
have  no  talisman  given  me,  with  which  I  can  go  into 
the  simple  perspicuous  narratives  of  the  book  of  God, 
and  by  a  presto  passe,  turn  its  men  and  women  into 
types  !  To  prove  their  existence,  much  more  must 
be  done,  than  to  show  that  one  object  on  some  points 


172  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

resembles  anotlier.  Mere  similitude  may  qualify  for 
office,  but  camiot  possibly  induct  into  it;  else  Capt. 
Fluellen's  celebrated  theory  of  a  typical  connection 
between  Alexander  the  Great,  and  king  Harry  of 
Monmouth,  would  be  strictly  true,  being  based  on 
indubitable  facts:  1st,  that  the  birth-place  of  both 
commenced  with  an  M. ;  2d,  that  both  were  great 
fighters ;  and  3d,  that  there  was  a  river  in  Monmouth 
and  also  a  river  in  Macedon,  though  the  honest 
gentleman  had  forgotten  its  name.  The  great  point 
to  be  established,  is,  that  the  likeness  was  designed 
in  the  original  institution.  It  is  the  previous  purpose 
and  i7itentio7i,  which  constitute  the  whole  relation  of 
type  and  antitype.  Now  this  must  be  proved,  and 
there  is  only  one  way  of  doing  it :  show  me  from 
Scripture  the  existence  of  such  a  connection.  What- 
ever persons  or  things  in  the  Old  Testament  are 
asserted  by  Christ  or  his  Apostles  to  have  been 
designed  prefigurations  of  persons  or  things  in  the 
New,  I  accept :  but  if  you  only  presume  the  fact  from 
a  real  or  fancied  analogy,  you  are  drawing  on  your 
imagination,  and  assuming  the  dangerous  liberty  of 
speaking  for  God. 

Nor  is  it  enough  to  quote  passages  from  the  New 
Testament  which  refer  to  incidents  in  the  Old.  Many 
facts  of  the  old  economy  are  adduced  simply  as  happy 
illustrations — to  adorn  or  enliven  a  sentiment,  not  to 
prove  it,  of  which  we  have  no  less  than  two  instances 
in  the  second  chapter  of  Matthew, — "  The  voice  in 


TROPES    AND   FIGURES.  173 

Rama,  lamentation  and  great  mourning — Rachel 
weeping  for  her  children,  and  refusing  to  be  comforted," 
spoken  of  by  Jeremiah,  was  the  mourning  of  the 
Jewish  mothers  when  separated  from  their  children  on 
the  way  to  Babylon.  The  Evangelist  alludes  to  that 
catastrophe  as  resembling  the  murder  of  the  infants  by 
Herod,  and  says  nothing  more  than  that  the  one  illus- 
trated  the  other.  This  use  of  the  phrase  on:coj  nT^r^ptoerj 
is  known  to  every  scholar.  "  Any  thing,"  as  Dr. 
Bloomfield  observes,  '•  may  be  said  to  be  fulfilled,  if  it 
admits  of  being  appropriately  applied."  The  quota- 
tion in  the  15th  verse,  '•  out  of  Egypt  have  I  called 
my  son,"  is  a  like  instance  of  accommodation.  The 
departure  of  Israel  from  Egypt  under  Moses,  of  which 
Hosea  speaks,  Hos.  xi.  1,  was  neither  a  prophecy  nor 
type  of  the  Redeemer's  brief  residence  in  that  country. 
But  there  was  a  pleasing  and  interesting  coincidence, 
which  attracts  the  notice  of  the  Evangelist,  and  in- 
duces him  to  borrow  the  prophet's  words. 

The  consequence  of  neglecting  these  plain  and  ra- 
tional principles,  may  be  seen  in  the  writings  of  di- 
vines without  number.  Large  folios  have  been  filled 
with  types  and  antitypes,  which  exist  only  in  the 
brains  of  their  authors,  the  facility  of  the  operation 
greatly  recommending  it  to  many.  To  become  a  good 
Grecian,  and  skilful  collator  of  parallelisms,  is  labor 
indeed  !  Nothing  more  easy  than  to  lie  all  day  on  a 
sofa,  tracing  likenesses  between  Dehlah  and  Judas  Is- 
cariot — xldam's  fig-leaves  and   the  works  of  the  law. 


174  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

It  is  also  very  convenient ;  for  each  sect  may  provide 
itself  with  its  own  typology,  from  which,  as  from  a 
fortress  built  in  air,  and  therefore  beyond  the  reach  of 
human  weapons,  they  may  hurl  defiance  to  every 
enemy.  In  this  way,  Pope  Innocent  the  third  proved 
to  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople,  the  immeasurable 
superiority  of  his  Holiness  to  his  Majesty.  God,  says 
he,  made  two  great  lights,  i.  e.  he  constituted  two 
great  dignities — ^the  Papal  and  the  Royal.  The  greater 
is  the  Papal,  ruling  in  spirituals,  or  over  the  day  :  the 
lesser  is  the  Royal,  ruling  in  temporals,  or  over  the 
night.  From  which  it  clearly  follows,  that  as  the  sun 
is  superior  to  the  moon,  so  the  Pope  is  exalted  above 
Kings !  ^ 

This  was  not  bad.  What  his  majesty  replied  we 
cannot  say — though  doubtless  he  contrived  some 
method  of  turning  the  tables.  The  scheme,  after  all, 
in  matters  of  argument  at  least,  is  not  so  convenient  as 
we  allowed  it  to  be ;  as  we  can  seldom  bring  the  ad- 
versary to  our  own  way  of  thinking  about  it,  and  our 
best  cases  may  be  so  easil}^  retorted.  The  types  of 
theologians  much  resemble  their  httle  namesakes  of 
the  printing  office,  in  one  respect ;  however  ingenious- 
ly set,  one  stroke  of  a  mischievous  elbow  can  dash 
them  all  into  jji.  Those  who  desire  to  see  the  way  in 
which  the  subject  is  treated  by  some  of  our  evan- 
gelical divines,  may  look  into  "  McEwen  on  the 
Types."  He  is  greatly  commended  by  some  ;  and  we 
would  not  deny   him  the  praise  of  Uvely  fancy  and 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  175 

sincere  piety :  but  it  is  fancy  run  wild,  and  no  degree 
of  piety  can  give  respectability  to  nonsense.  We  hold 
an  interpretation  not  based  on  principles,  to  be  an  un- 
principled interpretation,  though  endorsed  by  all  the 
saints  in  the  calendar.  That  there  are  persons  and 
things  in  the  ancient  dispensation  intended  to  be  pre- 
figurative  of  persons  and  things  in  the  new,  we  have 
already  expressed  our  belief.  We  go  on  sohd  grounds 
when  we  make  the  assertion,  and  appeal  boldly  in  sup- 
port of  it  to  the  "  Word."  But  we  will  not  desert  that 
light  for  ignes  fatui,  or  add  our  own  muddy  inventions 
to  divine  ordinances.  The  extravagances  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  typology  have  done  more  to  make  the 
whole  doctrine  appear  ridiculous  than  all  the  sneers 
and  wit  of  infidelity. 

Yet  we  would  not  be  morose  to  our  type  lovino- 
brethren,  nor  refuse  all  compromise  with  them.  That 
every  question  wliich  arises  must  be  decided  by  the 
word  of  God,  is  a  point  not  to  be  surrendered,  but 
■whether  direct  and  positive  assertion  is  necessary,  may 
be  doubted.  Even  w4ren  nothing  is  said  on  the  sub- 
ject, the  resemblance  between  two  objects,  Avhether 
persons  or  things,  may  be  so  striking — and  so  remark- 
able the  coincidence  of  the  attending  circumstances, 
that  a  devout  mind  profoundly  convinced  of  the  ini- 
tiatory and  predictive  character  of  the  ancient  oscono- 
my,  might  be  allowed  to  see  in  the  correspondence 
something  more  than  accident.  Thus,  without  the 
express  testimony  of  our  Saviour^  it  might  be  conjee- 


176  INTERPRETATION    OP    SCRIPTURE. 

tured  [perhaps)  that  the  exaltation  of  a  brazen  ser- 
pent on  a  pole  darkly  pointed  to  his  own  elevation  on 
the  cross  :  the  resemblance  being  so  close,  and  the  expe- 
dients, adopted  for  healing  the  Israelites,  being  of  so  sin- 
gular a  character,  that  we  are  almost  compelled  to  find 
some  reason  for  it.  So  also  had  Melchisedec  not  been 
declared  by  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
to  be  "  made  like  unto  the  son  of  God,"  we  might  have 
guessed  [perhaps)  at  something  of  the  kind,  from  the 
abrupt  and  startling  manner  in  which  the  book  of 
Genesis  introduces  him  on  the  scene,  the  union  in  his 
person  of  the  sacerdotal  and  kingly  offices,  and  the 
homage  which  he  received  from  the  father  of  the 
faithful. 

Great  care,  however,  as  well  as  modesty  must  be 
exercised,  when  we  expatiate  in  the  agreeable  but  ste- 
rile field  of  conjecture.  The  navigator  who  forsakes 
his  chart,  in  quest  of  new  discoveries,  should  possess 
extraordinary  skill  and  caution,  for  he  is  his  own  un- 
derwriter ;  he  should  also  have  an  excellent  temper, 
as  his  "  valuable  discoveries  "  often  prove  to  be  vexa- 
tious disappointments,  turning  on  a  near  approach  into 
— islands  of  ice — continents  of  fog — perchance,  an  ar- 
chipelago of  breakers.  Facts  might  be  adduced  with- 
out travelling  abroad,  to  prove  that  Hierophancy  is  far 
from  being  a  harmless  member  of  the  Fancy  family, 
but  is  often  attended  with  serious  danger.  Walking 
among  the  shadows  which  his  imagination  has  turned 
into  living  realities,  the   mystic  seer  is  equally  ready 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  177 

in  the  hour  of  reaction  (for  spite  of  every  effort  to  the 
contrary,  reilection  will   occasionally   step   in.)  to  turn 
realities   into   shadows,   and  thus   make  a  total  ship- 
wreck of  his  religious  faith  and  hope.     We  may  rest 
assured  of  this,  that  the  last  man  on  earth  to  be  relied 
on  '•  for  continuing  in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled," 
is  the  man  so  full  of  faith^  that  he  sees  its  object 
everywhere  and  in  everything.     We  advise,  therefore, 
every  interpieter  to  form  habits  of  strict,  nay  severe, 
exposition  of  the  sacred  text  ;  let  him  always  be  con- 
tent with  \vhat  he  can  prove,  and  when  the  case  is  in 
the  least  dubious,  prefer  the  too  little  to  the  too  much. 
2d.  As  we  are  not  to  seek  for  Allegory,  so  we  niust 
consider ^only   the  parts  which   are   connected  with 
the  doctrine  taught — paying  no  regard   to  external 
circumstances.     Having   mastered    the  scope   of  the 
writer,  we  must  interpret  so  much  of  the  figure  as 
directly  relates  to  it,  and  no  more.     The  remark  is  of 
special  use  in  explaining  parables,  though  it  applies 
also    to    types.     The    correspondence    between    them 
and  the  antitype,  nmst  never  be  pressed  beyond  the 
manifest  design  of  God  in   establishing  the  relation. 
Levitical  sacrifices  prefigured  the  great  atonement  of 
the  Redeemer ;  but  we  must  not  turn,  as  some  have 
done,    the    tongs    and   fire-shovels    of  the    altar    into 
symbols.     The   High    Priest    typified    the    person    of 
Christ ;  but  it  would  be  mere  trifling,  to  discover  pro- 
found meanings  in  every  part  of  the  sacerdotal  dress. 
With  regard  to  parables,  the  rule  must  never  be  lost 
8 


IT'S  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE!. 

sight  of.  Many  circumstances  in  them  aie  only  added 
to  give  an  air  of  probability,  or  render  tliem  more 
lively  and  interesting.  They  are  (to  use  the  beautiful 
expression  of  Solomon)  "golden  apples  in  silver  bas- 
kets :''  As  interpreters,  we  have  concern  only  with  the 
apples.  Circumstances,  in  short,  form  what  nriay  be 
called  the  machinery  of  the  parable,  and  therefore 
do  not  always  have  weight  in  the  investigation  of  its 
meaning. 

The  parable  of  the  ten  virgins  for  instance,  is  de- 
signed to  teach  the  folly  of  those  who  neglect  pre- 
paration for  tlicir  Redeemer's  coming.  Yirgins  are 
selected,  not  on  account  of  their  purity,  but  because 
virgins  in  those  days  played  an  important  part  at 
bridals;  and  a  bridal  feast  was  made  the  basis  of  the 
fable.  The  virginity  therefore  of  the  personages  is  a 
mere  circumstance,  which  teaches  notliing.  So  is  the 
distinction  into  '-live  wise,"  and  ^-tive  foohsh  :"  notliing 
can  be  inferred  as  to  the  comparative  number  of 
nominal  and  sincere  professors  of  religion  in  the  world. 
The  two  classes  are  equalized,  to  guard  against  all 
speculations  on  a  subject  foreign  to  the  speaker's 
object.  The  "sleeping"  of  the  wise  virgins  is  another 
mere  circumstance,  introduced  to  bring  about  the 
catastrophe  in  a  natural  way — not  to  teach  the  dan- 
gerous doctrine  that  the  best  Christians  fail  in  spi- 
ritual vigilance,  and  are  very  liable  to  be  taken  by 
surprise  when  the  Master  calls  them.  The  truth  is, 
that  their  sleeping  was  designed  to  be  rather  com- 


TROPES    AND    FIGURES.  179 

plimentary  than  otherwise,  as  it  brought  out  the 
fact  that  they  were  provided  and  ready.  They  had 
nothing  to  fear :  a  little  refreshment  therefore  was  not 
amiss,  especially  as  they  had  no  duties  to  perform  until 
the  arrival  of  the  procession. 

The  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  is  another 
example.  The  angels  who  carry  the  soul  of  Lazarus 
to  Abraham's  bosom,  probably  belong,  as  w^ell  as 
Abraham's  boson^  itself,  to  the  machinery,  and  no- 
thing is  deducible  from  it.  The  representation  of  the 
rich  man  and  Abraham  being  in  the  same  region,  and 
within  sight  of  each  other,  is  an  image  taken  from  the 
ancient  idea  of  Hades,  and  must  not  be  called  upon  to 
prove,  that  the  souls  of  the  blessed  hold  intercourse 
with  those  of  the  wicked  in  another  world. 

Great  prudence  therefore,  and  good  taste  are  need- 
ful, in  explaining  these  interesting  compositions. 
Without  such  qualifications,  and  foolishly  ambitious 
of  making  every  thing  out  of  any  thing,  interpreters 
have  often  made  them  ridiculous.  What°can  be  more 
simple  and  intelligible  than  the  parable  of  the  good 
Samaritan,  which  so  beautifully  inculcates  universal 
benevolence  !  It  is  absolutely  transparent !  Yet  in 
the  hands  of  some,  it  turns  out  a  perfect  riddle,  where 
the  true  significance  is  not  obscured,  but  utterly  lost. 
The  man  whofell  among  thieves — is  the  sinner  ;  the 
thieves,  are  the  devil  and  his  angels  ;  the  priest  who 
passed  by  on  the  other  side,  is  the  law  ;  the  Levite,  is 
legal  obedience.     The  good  Samaritan,  is   Christ ; 


180  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

the  oil,  is  grace;  the  wine,  comfort  from  the  promises ; 
the  inn  keeper,  is  the  Christian  Ministry  ;  the  coming 
again,  is  death,  judgment,  and  eternity.  All  this 
may  be  very  pious  ;  but  we  repeat  our  maxim,  that 
no  piety  can  give  respectability  to  nonsense. 


RULE    VIII. 

Attend  carefully  to  Hebrew,  and  Hebraistic  idioms. 
In  reading  the  Bible,  never  forget  that  its  language, 
in  every  thing  which  distinguishes  one  from  another, 
is  at  variance  with  your  own.  That  this  holds  true 
of  the  language  of  the  Old  Testament,  no  one  doubts; 
but  the  remark  equally  applies  to  that  of  the  New. 
In  its  use  of  words,  its  grammar,  and  syntactical  con- 
structions, it  has  many  of  the  peculiarities  of  its 
oriental  sister ;  so  that  its  authors  may  be  said  with- 
out much  exaggeration,  while  they  spoke  in  Greek  to 
have  thought  in  Hebrew.  It  could  not  be  otherwise  ; 
an  impure  Hebrew  being  their  native  tongue,  and 
their  Greek  style  being  formed  by  the  constant  read- 
ing of  the  Septuagint,  which  was  an  extremely  literal 
translation  of  the  Old  Testament  into  that  language. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe,  that  any  of  them  except 
Paul,  had  ever  read  a  single  Greek  author.  The 
student  should  be  mindful  of  this,  and  keep  his  Old 
Testament  and  Septuagint  always  before  him.    A  few 


HEBRAISMS.  l^^l 


examples  of  the   Hebraising   style   shall   be   given: 
details  would  fill  a  volume. 

One  striking  instance,  is  the  use  of  the  Genitive, 
which  has  a  much  more  extensive  signification  than 
is    customary   with    us;    comprehending   a   greater 
variety  of  relations  ;  and   often  qualifying  the  noun 
which  governs  them  as  adjectives.     This  often  occurs 
in   the  New  Testament.     In  1   Cor.  i.  5,  Paul  says, 
the  "sufferings  of  Christ  abound  in  us."     He  means 
the  sufferings  not  undergone  by  Christ,  but  which  we 
undergo  for  him.     Sufferings  for  the  sake  of  Christ, 
would  be  the  proper  English  expression.     The  same 
is  meant  by  the  Apostle,  when  he  calls  himself ''  a 
prisoner  of  Christ."     He  was  a  captive,  on  account  of 
him.     In  various  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, he   speaks  of  the    righteousness   of  God,  by 
which  he  plainly  signifies,  not  the  excellency  of  the 
divine  nature,  but  the  righeousness  by  which  the  sin- 
ner is  justified,  and  which  he  names  "God's  righteous- 
ness," because  he  graciously  provided  and  accepts  it. 
In  the  same  way,  "horn  of  salvation  "  signifies  a  horn 
(the  emblem  of  power  among  the  Hebrews  borrowed 
from  their  pastoral  life)  which  is  the  cause  of  salva- 
tion ;  in  other  words,  (when  stripped  of  its  orientalism,) 
a  mighty  author  of  deliverance.     The  Hebrew  mode 
of  employing  genitives  for  adjectives  is  also  common. 
The  Apostle  addressing  the  Thessalonians,  speaks  of 
their   "patience   of  hope,"  he   means  patient   hope, 

"  Glory  of  his  pow^r,"  is  equal  to  glorious  power. 


182  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

The  Hebrews  were  fond  ofgiv^ing  emphasis  to  what 
they  said,  by  repetition.  Jer.  xxii.  29,  '•  Oh  earth, 
earth,  earth,  hear  the  word  of  the  Lord."  Isa.  vi.  3, 
'•'Holy,  holy,  holy,  is  the  Lord  God  Almighty  f  from 
which  many  have  drawn  a  prodigiously  silly  argu- 
ment for  the  Trinit}^ 

Hendiadys  is  the  joining  of  two  words  by  the 
copulative^  while  a  single  thing  is  asserted  ;  the  one 
being  generally  employed  as  a  genitive,  or  adjective  : 
Acts  xxiii.  6,  "of  the  hope  and  resurrection  of  the 
dead  I  am  called  in  question."  This  is  a  striking  in- 
stance. He  means  the  hope  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead.  In  Acts  xiv.  13,  it  is  said  that  the  '•  priests  of 
Jupiter  brought  oxen  and  garlands  to  the  gates."  The 
garlands  were  upon  the  oxen  :  crowned  with  garlands^ 
therefore,  expresses  the  idea.  Many  judicious  com- 
mentators explain  by  this  peculiarity  the  phrase  in 
Matt.  iii.  11,  "  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  with  fire :"  i,  e.  with  the  burning  Spirit — 
with  him  who  is  powerful,  penetrating,  and  all-purify- 
ing, as  the  element  of  fire. 

There  are  singular  examples  of  disregard  to  the  re- 
gular construction  of  sentences  in  both  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments,  which  in  a  classical  Greek  writer 
would  be  offensive,  but  in  our  authors  is  positively 
agreeable :  being  so  redolent  of  primitive  simplicity.  In 
Gal.  iii.  4th,  5th,  6th  verses,  we  have  a  series  of  proposi- 
tions, which  seem  to  defy  all  the  efforts  of  interpreters 
to  disembroil  them. — Nothing  is  ipore  common,  than 


HEBRAISMS.  183 

for  the  Apostle  to  comir.ence  a  tiiou^lu  in  a  particular 
way,  and  conclude  it  in  a  manner  eritirely  different,  as 
if  he  had  forgotten  his  beginning.  Tliushe  commen- 
ces the  well-known  comparison  between  Adam  and 
Moses,  in  Rom.  v.  with  the  following  sentence,  or  ra- 
ther part  of  one,  '•  Wherefore  as  by  one  man  sin  en- 
tered into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  so  death 
passed  upon  all  men.  for  all  have  sinned.''  He  thus 
gives  us  reason  to  expect  a  redditive  or  corresponding 
clause  to  be  introduced  by  the  usual  formula,  '-50," 
or  ^-  i/ius.'^  None  occurs  ;  and  after  examining  what 
follows,  we  are  obliged  to  conclude  that  in  the  onward 
impetuosity  of  his  movement,  he  has  lost  sight  of 
his  starting  point — without  however  forgetting  the 
thought,  to  which  he  does  ample  justice. 

But  it  is  ill  the  iise  of  verbs,  that  the  Hel^raism  ot 
Scripture  appears  most  clearly.  They  very  frequently 
express  not  ihe  action  itself,  but  something  approach- 
ing or  allied  to  it — the  desire  or  endeavor  to  perform 
it — its  commencement,  or  the  giving  occasion  to  it — 
its  permission,  or  the  obligation  to  its  performance. 
We  shall  as  usual  give  some  examples. 

Things  are  said  to  be  done,  where  tliere  is  only 
endeavor  ov  desire.  Thus  Reuben  is  said  to  '-have 
delivered  Joseph  out  of  the  hands  of  his  breihren.'' 
He  attempted  his  deliverance,  but  succeeded  very  par- 
tially.— '-Whoso  findeih  his  life,"  says  our  Redeemer, 
•'shall  lose  it:*'  i.  e.  seeks  to  find  it,  is  unduly  anxious 
for  its  preservation. 


184  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Sometimes  verbs  only  intimate  that  the  subject 
gave  occasion  to  the  action.  In  Jeremiah  xxxviii.  23, 
God  says  to  King  Zedekiah,  "  thou  shalt  be  taken  by 
the  hand  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  and  thou  shalt  cause 
Jerusalem  to  be  burnt  with  fire."  The  conduct  of  the 
unhappy  monarch  should  lead  to  this  catastrophe. 
"  The  wrath  of  man,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "  shall  praise 
God  " — not  praise  him,  but  be  an  occasion  of  praise. 
This  explains  the  apparent  discrepancy  between  Mat- 
thew and  Luke,  in  their  account  of  the  field  of  blood. 
The  former  states  that  it  was  bought  by  the  priests  and 
elders  with  the  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  which  Judas  Is- 
cariot  had  returned  to  them.  The  latter,  in  Acts  i.  18, 
says,  "this  man  (Judas)  purchased  a  field  with  the 
reward  of  iniquity."  The  fact  was,  that  he  gave 
occasion  for  the  transaction,  and  the  historian  de- 
scribes him  as  the  agent. 

Frequently,  words  expressing  the  power  of  doing 
actions,  only  mean  facility ;  and  the  denial  of  power 
signifies  nothing  more  than  difficulty.  In  Ruth  iv.  6, 
the  near  kinsman  of  EUmelech  says,  "I  cannot  re- 
deem his  inheritance."  He  could  have  done  it,  for  he 
w^as  evidently  a  man  of  property,  but  not  without 
considerable  sacrifices.  The  householder  in  our  Lord's 
parable,  of  whom  a  friend  solicits  admission  at  mid- 
night, replies  that  "the  door  is  shut,  the  children  with 
him  in  bed.  and  that  he  cannot  rise."  He  meant  that 
rising  was  extremely  inconvenient.  So  it  is  said  of 
our  Lord,  in  Mark  vi.  5,  that  he  could  do  no  mighty 


HEBRAISMS.  185 

works  in  a  particular  district,  because  of  their  un- 
belief: he  could  not  with  pleasure  and  satisfaction  : 
it  was  painful  to  him  to  throw  his  pearls  before  such 
swine.  The  Pelagians  appeal  to  this  idiom,  when 
they  attempt  to  explain  the  sinner's  inability  to  do 
what  is  good.  He  cannot ;  because  in  consequence  of 
the  strength  of  animal  impulses,  and  of  bad  education, 
commencing  at  the  mother's  breast,  it  is  extremely, 
and  in  the  last  degree,  difficult.  Their  enlightened 
opponent  meets  them,  not  by  ringing  changes  on  the 
words  "can,"  and  "cannot,"  violently  torn  from  their 
connection,  but  by  a  careful  study  of  the  passages  in 
which  they  are  found,  directed  by  the  laws  of  sound 
interpretation. 

Words  expressing  actions,  are  often  only  declara- 
tory— denoting  the  recognition  of  them  as  having 
been  performed,  or  about  to  be. — "  Behold,"  says  Isaac 
to  Esau,  "  I  have  made  Jacob  thy  lord,  and  all  his 
brethren  have  I  given  to  him  for  servants."  The  only 
agency  of  tlie  venerable  patriarch  in  this  transaction 
consisted  in  announcing  it.  He  intended  to  say  "I 
have  declared  Jacob  thy  lord."  In  a  like  manner, 
Jeremiah  was  set  up  by  God  "over  the  nations  to  root 
out,  pull  down,  and  destroy."  The  Prophet  was  not  a 
military  conqueror  ;  but  as  a  divine  messenger,  he  de- 
clared what  should  be  accomplished  by  the  hand  of 
Nebuchadnezzar.  So  also  when  the  priest  saw  on  a 
man  signs  of  leprosy,  he  was  ordered  to  "pollute  or 
make  him  unclean,"  Levit.  xiii.  3.  The  meaning  is 
8* 


186  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

plain  enough.  He  was  to  projioimce  him  unclean,  as 
it  is  expressed  in  our  English  version,  which  very 
properly  rejects  the  grosser  Hebraisms. 

The  7th  verse  of  the  2cl  Psalm,  receives  great  light 
from  this  declaratory  use  of  verbs.  "  The  Lord  hath 
said  unto  me,  thou  art  my  son,  this  day  have  I  begot- 
ten thee."  Most  of  the  old  divines  supposed  that 
David  is  here  describing  the  actual  generation  of  the 
son  from  the  father ;  having  in  thought  carried  him- 
self back  to  a  point  in  eternity  when  the  generation 
was  supposed  to  take  place.  The  words  "  this  day," 
refer  to  that  imaginar}^  point.  The  view  cannot  be 
sustained,  and  among  other  reasons  for  this,  that 
though  certain  transcendental  theologues  of  our  times 
have  invited  themselves  to  be  present  at  the  generation 
— not  only  of  the  son,  but  the  father  from  the  great 
bosom  of  Nichts ;  nothing  of  the  kind  is  found  in 
sacred  Scriptures.  We  do  not  believe  that  the  most 
raging  delirium  could  have  made  the  pious,  simple- 
hearted  Psalmist  imagine  to  himself  a  God  heginning 
to  he — or  a  God  half  formed.  The  word  "  begotten," 
is  to  be  taken  declaratively.  The  point  of  time  as- 
sumed b}"  the  writer  in  this  noble  Messianic  ode,  is  the 
resurrection  of  its  subject  from  the  dead.  God  is  repre- 
sented as  addressing  him  on  the  occasion — presenting 
him  to  the  admiring  gaze  of  the  whole  moral  universe  ; 
and  acknowledging  the  endearing  eternal  relation  of 
which,  on  that  day.  he  had  given  such  magnificent 
illustration.     The  clause  may  be  thus  briefly  para- 


HEBRAISMS. 


187 


phrased  :  '•  Thou  art  my  only  begotten  and  eternal 
son.  1  here  avow  thee  to  be  such,  and  require  all  my 
subjects  to  honor  thee  as  a  partner  of  my  throne." 
With  perfect  propriety  therefore,  the  Apostle  connects 
the  passage  with  our  Lord's  resurrection  :  Rom.  i.  4, 
"declared  to  be  the  son  of  God  with  power  by  his 
resurrection  from  the  dead.'' 

The  last  example  which  we  shall  give,  is  of  words 
signifying  action,  being  used  to  denote  the  permission 
of  it  :  as  in  the  prayer  of  David,  Psalm  cxix.  31,  "  I 
have  adhered  to  thy  testimonies,  put  me  not  to  shame." 
A  more  striking  example  we  have  in  Isiah  Ixii.  17, 
^'  O  Lord,  why  hast  thou   made   us   to  err  from  thy 
ways,  and  hardened  our  heart  from  thy  fear."     In  this 
passage  and  some  others,  the  English  reader  is  startled 
at  discovering  indications  of  the  horrible  doctrine,  that 
God  exercises  a  positive  agency  in  the  production  of 
moral  evil.     Thus   we  are   taught    to  pray,  that  he 
''  may  not  lead  us  into  temptation  :"  He  '•  hardened 
Pharaoh's  heart :"     He  '•  shuts  the  eyes  of  sinners,  and 
makes  their  ears  heavy,  lest  they  see  with  their  eyes 
and  hear  with  their  ears."     They  contain,  however, 
nothing    alarming  ;    the  whole  doctrine    which    they 
teach,  being  approved  by  the   light   of  reason  itself; 
that   God,   in    righteous    judgment    gives    the    pre- 
sumptuous sinner  up  to  his  own  evil   impulses,  per- 
mitting him  to    '-harden    himself,    even  under  those 
means  which  he  useth  for  the  softening  of  others."* 

*  Westminster  Cuiifessioii  oi'  Faiih. 


1:88  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Misapprehension  of  this  idiom  led  many  excellent  men 
in  New-England,  to  profess  without  scruple  or  limita- 
tion, their  belief,  that  unholy  volitions  were  the  im- 
mediate effect  of  divine  agency.  The  race  is  nearly 
extinct,  having  been  succeeded  (as  might  be  expected 
from  the  usual  course  of  things  in  the  world),  by  a 
generation  who  seem  afraid  to  trust  the  Supreme 
Being  with  any  agency  even  in  good.  We  have  al- 
ways reverenced  those  worthy  men.  We  especially 
admire  that  iron  intrepidity,  which  enabled  them  to 
look  in  the  face  and  take  to  their  bosoms  so  ugly  a 
monster,  from  simple  regard  to  the  divine  will.  Men 
who  could  sacrifice  to  faith  the  strongest  moral  in- 
stincts of  their  nature,  were  prepared  for  anything. 
Yet  after  all — in  the  matter  of  expounding  Scripture, 
heroes  are  of  less  account  than  good  hebrceatis. 

The  student  will  be  making  small  progress  in  the 
knowledge  of  his  Bible,  who  does  not  soon  find  that 
we  have  been  giving  only  a  few  specimens  of  its 
phraseology.  Let  him  devote  his  best  powers  of  at- 
tention to  it ;  for  there  is  not  a  tree  in  the  garden 
which  yields  more  precious  fruit.  What  especially 
reconimends  it,  is  the  fact,  that  in  exploring  the  He- 
braisms of  the  Bible,  we  go  to  the  very  fountain  head 
of  knowledge  concerning  the  meaning  of  those  im- 
portant and  constantly  recurring  words  by  which  the 
New  Testament  writers  describe  the  fundamental 
truths  of  Christianity  ;  such  as  faith,  propitiation, 
redemption,  atonement,  church,  baptism,  regenera- 


PROPHECY.  189 

tioiij  justification^  and  righteousness  Let  a  young 
man  tolerably  versed  in  the  languages,  sit  down  as 
ignorant  as  a  babe  of  the  Gospel,  and  study  these 
words  carefully  as  he  finds  them  in  his  Hebrew  and 
Greek  Old  Testament,  with  no  other  human  aid  but 
a  good  dictionary  and  concordance  ;  we  promise  him 
wnth  unbounded  confidence,  that  he  will  obtain  an 
infinitely  clearer  notion  of  tliem  in  a  single  week,  than 
by  reading  five  hundred  folios  of  polemic  divinity. 


RULE    IX. 


Much  of  Script'ire  being  Prophetical^  we  should 
acquaint  ourselves  with  the  nature  and  laws  of  that 
kind  of  composition.  This  is  far  from  easy.  No 
department  of  theology  has  occasioned  so  much  per- 
plexity to  serious  inquirers,  and  the  subject  is  still 
be=et  with  difl[iculties,  which  we  have  little  hope  will 
soon  be  removed.  God  has  suflfered  clouds  and  dark- 
ness to  rest  on  it  for  the  wisest  reasons,  some  of  which 
are  obvious.  He  would  not  deprive  his  Church  of 
the  privilege  which  she  has  enjoyed  in  every  age  and 
place,  of  walking  by  faith.  He  would  not  by  exhibit- 
ing a  clear  picture  of  the  future,  disturb  the  freedom 
of  his  creatures,  and  the  natural  course  of  human 
events :  in  short,  he  would  teach,  that  our  religion 
provides   other   business   for   us,  than    to   indulge  a 


PROPHECY. 


191 


ment,  we  need  not,  say.  Quite  as  little  may  be  ex 
pected  from  those,  who  discover  in  their  writings  a 
dark  and  tanjjled  forest  of  hieroglyphics  ;  insist  that 
every  image  is  a  definite  symbol  of  invariable  signifi- 
cation ;  and  actually  turn  the  noblest  creations  of 
genius  into  an  Egyptian  alphabet,  of  which  tliese 
great  Champollions  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
discover  the  key  that  enables  them  to  decipher  the 
most  crabbed  page  in  the  book  of  destiny  ! 

2d.  Tliey  were  ivhlle  romposing  their  predictions 
in  a  state  of  ecstasy  or  high  supernatural  excitement^ 
produced  immediately  by  the  inspiring  Spirit.  The 
infiuence  they  were  under,  we  have  reason  to  think, 
was  of  a  much  more  engrossing  and  controlling  cha- 
racter, than  that  which  illuminated  the  minds  of  the 
Apostles.  The  latter,  while  they  thought  the  thoughts 
and  spoke  the  words  of  Gjd,  retained  all  their  mental 
activity  and  self-command.  Their  ideas  seem  to  have 
risen  spT)ntaneously,  according  to  the  laws  of  associ- 
ation, nor  do  we  discover  an}^  traces  of  a  compulsory 
necessity,  in  the  election  of  some,  and  tiie  rejection  of 
others.  No  enlightened  reader  of  Paul  for  instance, 
can  doubt,  that  he  thought  out  every  thing  lie  said,  as 
fully  as  if  he  had  not  been  under  heavenly  infiuence. 
His  personality  mingles  itself  in  every  sentiment  he  ut- 
ters. He  sends  courteous  salutations  to  private  friends, 
describes  his  feelings  on  hearing  favorable  or  painful 
accounts  of  them,  reminds  his  young  favorite  Timothy 
of  his  ill  health,  speaks  of  a  certain  •'  cloak"  which  he 


190  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

childish  CLiiiosity  as  to  "times  and  seasons.'-  We 
would  not  tiierefore  encourage  the  student  to  specu- 
late much  on  this  subject.  The  predictions  which 
have  been  fulfilled,  especially  those  acconiphshed  in 
the  advent  of  our  Redeemer,  deserve  all  attention — 
being  the  strongest  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  our 
holy  religion,  and  arguments  of  resistless  force  against 
the  Infidel  As  to  futurity — let  the  '-sapphire  throne," 
borne  by  the  fiaming  Cherubim,  take  its  own  mighty 
course.  There  is  a  '-living  Spirit  in  the  wheels,"  who 
keeps  his  own  counsel,  and  seems,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  past  success  of  Apocalyptic  commentators,  to 
treat  with  very  little  respect  the  numerous  attempts  to 
advise  him.  Scan  as  curiously  as  you  will,  the  car 
of  Providence  in  its  magnificent  progress  through  the 
earth  :  but  choose  wisely  your  post  of  observation,  and 
by  all  means  mount  up  behind  ! 

The  following  hints  on  the  general  subject  of  Pro- 
phecy may  be  of  use. 

ist.  Remember,  that  the  diction  of  this  part  of 
Scripture  is  intenseli/  jyoetical.  Not  only  were  its 
authors  poets — in  the  cojnmon  sense  of  the  word,  but 
in  its  richest  and  noblest  acceptation.  In  splendor 
of  imagination — in  the  gorgeous  coloring  which  they 
throw^  over  every  thing  they  describe— in  boldness  of 
imagery  and  enthusiastic  glow  of  feeling,  they  excel 
all  other  authors.  How  miserably  such  noble  spirits 
will  be  explained  by  those  who  treat  their  productions 
as  if  they  were  discourses  on  History  or  Civil  Govern- 


192  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

had  left  at  Troas,  "  as  also  the  parchments,"  hopes  to 
visit  some  of  them,  though  he  is  not  certain ;  nay, 
there  are  strong  indications  in  one  or  two  cases,  of  his 
concluding  a  letter,  and  then  returning  to  it  for  the 
purpose  of  adding  something  new. 

"With  the  prophets  it  w^as  different.  They  "were 
carried  away,"  as  the  Apostle  Peter  expresses  it,  by  the 
inspiring  God,  and  seem  'rather  to  be  acted  on,  than 
voluntary  agents.  Hence  those  various  expressions 
which  represent  "  the  hand  of  the  Lord  as  coming  up- 
on them,"  and  their  yielding  to  his  influence  as  some- 
thing involuntary  on  their  part,  accompanied  with  a 
feeling  of  horror  and  great  darkness,  and  sometimes  a 
falling  to  the  ground  :  Gen.  xv.  12;  Num.  xxiv.  4 ; 
1  Sam.  xix.  20.  This  is,  of  course,  to  be  understood 
comparatively  ;  for  we  have  already  observed,  that 
even  prophecy  did  not  entirely  paralyze  reason  and 
self-consciousness.  But  they  were  certainly  wrought 
upon  in  a  much  more  powerful  manner,  than  the  other 
holy  men  who  were  honored  with  a  divine  afflatus. 
Though  not  mere  machines,  nor  agitated  with  a  blind 
fury  like  the  ancient  Pythia  ofDelphos,  they  were  yet 
not  entirely  themselves.  The  powers  of  perception 
and  volition  were  for  a  time  partially  suspended,  and 
their  minds  became  so  many  placid  mirrors,  from 
which  were  reflected  the  pure  rays  of  heavenly  truth. 

3d.  In  this  state,  they  saw  objects  as  present  to 
them.  The  various  incidents  and  transactions  which 
were  revealed,  imprinted  themselves  vividly  on  their 


^ 


PROPHECY.  193 

imaginations  and  with  all  the  force  of  living  truth,  so 
that  they  possessed  an  ideal  reality,  similar  to  that 
Avhich  objects  have  in  dreams.  Hence  the  frequency 
with  which  they  are  called  "  Seers,"  and  their  revela- 
tions "  visions."  Thus  Balaam,  who  was  doubtless  a 
true  prophet,  describes  himself,  as  "the  man  whose 
eyes  are  opened,  who  heard  the  words  of  God,  who 
saw  the  vision  of  the  Almighty,  having  fallen  upon  the 
ground."  Similar  were  the  revelations  of  Isaiah  :  '-In 
the  year  that  king  Uz7iah  died,"  he  says,  "/  saw — 
the  Lord  sitting  upon  a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up, 
and  his  train  filled  the  temple."  On  another  occa- 
sion, he  sees — a  hero  marching  forward  in  splen- 
did apparel,  stained  with  the  blood  of  conquered  ene- 
mies, and  exclaims  in  admiration,  as  if  person all}^  ad- 
dressing him  :  "  Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom 
with  died  garments  from  Bozrah,  that  is  glorious  in 
his  apparel,  travelling  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength  ?" 
Ezekiel,  when  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  on  him,  ^''  saio 
and  passed  through  a  valley  of  dry  bones,"  which,  af- 
ter being  addressed  by  the  prophet  at  the  divine  com- 
mandment, '•  came  together,  bone  to  bone,  and  the 
breath  came  into  them,  and  they  stood  up  an  exceed- 
ing great  army."  Habakkuk  stands  upon  his  watch- 
tower,  to  see — what  God  will  say  and  exhibit  to 
him.  These  were  not  rare  and  isolated  cases.  They 
were  of  a  more  striking  character  than  many,  but 
they  illustrate  the  general  mode  in  which  the  prophetic 
mind  was   affected.     In   short,  we   may  consider  the 


194  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

future  events  predicted,  as  a  large  and  magnificent 
7?a/iorama,  encompassing  the  sacred  visionary  on  every 
side,  and  becoming  for  a  timeliis  whole  world  of  being, 
in  which  he  breathes,  and  moves,  as  if  in  his  proper 
home. 

He  did  not,  however,  see  them  in  their  strict  rela- 
tions to  each  other ^  nor  in  their  chronological  connec- 
tion. God  did  not  think  fit  to  exhibit  a  clear  and 
perfect  map,  for  wise  reasons.  Each  saw  pieces, 
memhra  disjecta  of  tlie  mighty  whole :  but  in  no  one 
place,  do  w^e  find  a  propliet  giving  a  symmetrical  view 
of  the  entire  compass  of  a  subject.  Sometimes,  we 
find  a  rich  delineation  of  the  person  of  Christ;  at 
others,  a  description  of  his  kingdom  and  the  glories  of 
his  reign.  Here,  note  is  taken  of  him,  as  meek,  gen- 
tle, compassionate,  who  "will  not  break  the  bruised 
reed,  nor  quench  the  smoking  flax."  There,  he  is 
seen  striking  through  kings  in  the  day  of  his  wrath, 
filling  the  places  A\'ith  dead  bodies,  and  wounding  the 
head  over  many  countries.  Some  prophets,  say  not  a 
word  of  his  humiliation  and  cruel  sufferings — Malachi 
for  example.  Only  two,  advert  to  his  remarkable  fore- 
runner. Sometimes  the  vision  is  sad  and  melancholv, 
exhibiting  the  rejection  of  the  Jews  on  account  of 
their  unbelief,  and  their  utter  dissolution  as  a  people. 
At  others,  all  is  joy  and  sunshine.  The  city  is  rebuilt, 
the  sanctuary  is  restored,  all  kings  of  the  earth  bring 
their  treasures  to  it,  and  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  re- 
turn with  songs  and  everlasting  joy  upon  their  heads. 


PROPHECY.  195 

This  fragmentary  character  of  prophecy,  is  a  very 
striking  and  important  one.  The  want  of  duly  con- 
sidering it,  is  tlie  principal  cause  of  those  complaints 
we  often  hear,  especially  from  infidels,  concerning  the 
darkness  of  this  part  of  revelation.  Were  such  to  sit 
down,  and  carefully  unite  the  scattered  pieces  into  a 
whole,  they  would  be  astonished  to  find  how  clearly,  as 
well  as  fully  and  consistently,  the  Christian  Saviour  is 
delineated. 

Equally  deserving  notice,  is  the  fact,  that  they 
seldom  perceive  objects  as  related  to  each  other  hi 
time.  The  reason  has  been  already  stated.  They 
were  in  the  midst  of  what  they  saw,  like  a  man  in  a 
dream.  The  events  of  a  far  distant  future  were  so 
many  present  reahties,  on  w^hich  they  gazed  with 
terror  or  delight;  unsuspicious,  probably,  that  ages 
would  elapse  before  the  fulfilment.  Thus  Isaiah, 
chapter  ix.  5,  speaks  of  Messiah  as  if  already  born, 
and  entering  into  his  kingdom:  '-Unto  us  a  child  is 
born,  unto  us  a  Son  is  given,  and  his  name  is  called 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  mighty  God.''  In  chapter 
xlii.  1,  He  directly  points  to  him  :  ''Behold  my  servant 
w4iom  I  uphold,  mine  elect  in  whom  my  soul  de- 
lighteth."  Instances  of  this  are  numberless.  It  is 
not  surprising,  therefore,  that  events  most  widely 
separated  from  each  other,  should  be  blended  in  pro- 
phetic description,  and  treated  as  continuous.  They 
saw  them  in  clusters — not  in  chronological  succession. 

Thus  in   the  10th  chapter  of  Isaiah,  we  have  a 


196  INTERPRETATION    OP    SCRIPTURE. 

thiilling  account  of  the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian?, 
which  took  place  at  least  six  centuries  before  the 
coming  of  Christ.  Yet  the  prophet  joins  it  imme- 
diately with  that  event^  by  the  ordinary  copulative: 
"  And  there  shall  come  forth  a  rod  out  of  the  stem 
of  Jesse,  and  a  branch  shall  grow  out  of  his  roots.'' 
The  conjunction  of  this  great  event  with  the  return 
from  Babylon,  is  so  frequent,  as  to  strike  the  most 
careless  reader.  Our  Redeemer's  prophecies  display 
the  same  character.  In  the  remarkable  prediction 
contained  in  the  24th  of  Matthew,  two  great  objects 
hovered  before  his  mind  :  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem, 
to  take  place  in  less  than  forty  years;  and  his  final 
coming  in  glory.  Yet  he  passes  from  the  former  to 
the  latter  at  once,  and  even  intimates  the  succession 
by  a  word,  (su^fw?,)  which  seems  to  exclude  all  in- 
terval or  delay :  verse  29 ;  "  Lnmediately  after  the 
tribulation  of  those  days  (the  destruction  of  Jerusalem) 
shall  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  man  appear,  and  all  the 
tribes  of  the  earth  shall  wail,  and  the}^  shall  see  the 
Son  of  man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  with 
power  and  great  glory,  and  he  shall  send  his  angels," 
&c.  If  any  wonder  that  he  should  have  conjoined 
two  events  so  distinct  from  each  other,  by  the  strong 
adverb  ivSa^i ;  let  him  consider,  that  when  our  Re- 
deemer assumed  the  prophet's  mantle,  he  volunntarily 
placed  himself  under  the  prophet's  laws.  He  saw 
objects,  precisely  as  Isaiah  would  have  done,  and 
spoke  as  he  saw. 


PROPHECY.  197 

^  This  characteristic  of  the  prophetic  writings  is  in- 
scribed on  ahnost  every  page.  All  the  Messianic 
passages  exhibit  it  in  a  greater  or  less  degree :  many 
of  them,  for  instance,  placing  the  final  consummation 
of  all  things  in  immediate  juxtaposition  with  the  first 
preaching  of  the  Gospel.  The  field  of  sacred  vision 
may,  in  this  respect,  be  compared  to  a  clear  midnight 
sky.  We  see  the  stars  above  our  head — star  dif- 
fering from  star  in  magnitude  and  brightness,  but 
their  relative  distance  from  us,  or  from  each  other, 
w^e  are  unable  even  to  conjecture. 

The  subject  may  be  illustrated  by  a  fact  in  mental 
philosophy.  It  is  now  well  understood,  that  sight 
gives  no  primary  information  concerning  distance 
in  any  case  whatever.  We  obtain  it  from  touch. 
Having  acquired  by  the  constant  handling  of  objects, 
notions  of  their  comparative  nearness  or  remoteness, 
we  associate  with  them  the  various  impressions  re- 
ceived by  the  eye,  and  learn  to  infer  their  distance 
in  the  use  of  this  organ  alone.  Its  informations, 
however,  entirely  depend  on  the  previous  handling. 
Without  experience,  sight  would  be  perfectly  helpless 
— as  is  proved  by  the  fact,  that  persons  born  blind 
who  have  suddenly  obtained  their  sight,  cannot  for 
some  time  even  walk  the  streets.  Every  thing  ap- 
pears to  them  fixed  in  a  plane,  till  repeated  trials 
have  taught  them  to  correct  the  i  lusion.  Sup- 
posing therefore,  a  state  of  things,  in  which  by  rea- 
son  of  the   great    remoteness   or  inaccessibleness  of 


198  INTERPRETATION    OF   SCRIPTURE. 

objects,  experiment  is  impossible  :  it  is  clear  that  sight 
would  be  forever  at  fault,  and  unable  to  form  the 
least  notion  of  the  relations  in  space,  which  they  bear 
to  each  other.  Such  was  actually  the  state  of  the 
prophet.  He  had  no  measure  by  which  to  judge  of 
the  real  size  or  proportion  of  the  events  he  foresaw. 
He  was  ushered  into  a  new  world,  nothing  belonging 
to  which  he  had  ever  touched — where  all  was  ethe- 
rial — boundless — "dark  by  excessive  bright.''  Nothing 
in  his  own  experience,  or  that  of  his  nation,  or  of 
mankind  at  large,  offered  the  slightest  clue  to  guide 
him  through  the  wondrous  scene;  as  Isaiah  distinctly 
commemorates,  "  From  the  beginning  of  the  world 
men  have  not  heard,  nor  perceived  b}^  the  ear  ;  nei- 
ther hath  the  eye  seen,  O  God,  beside  thee,  what  he 
hath  prepared  for  him  that  awaiteth  on  him."  No 
wonder  that  he  was  utterly  lost  in  the  comtemplation, 
and  stood  amazed — like  the  man  blind  from  his  birth, 
when  his  darkened  eyeballs  first  open  on  the  glories 
of  the  visible  universe  ! 

4th.  As  the  scenes  and  events  described  were  pre- 
sent to  him.  so  their  dress  and  coloring  ivere  borrowed 
from  objects,  with  which ^  as  a  Jew  he  was  familiar. 
The  whole  representation  having  the  nature  of  a 
picture  addressed  to  the  eye,  it  was  necessary  that  a 
certain  system  of  imagery  be  adopted,  in  which  the 
great  moral  truths  should  lie  enshrined,  as  in  a  beauti- 
ful casket.  This  imagery  must  be  familiar  to  him, 
and  the  people  ;  otherwise  it  would  be  unintelligible. 


PROPHECY.  199 

Hence  we  find,  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is  always 
exhibited  by  ideas  taken  from  the  national  tlieocracy. 
Messiah  is  not  only  '-Son  of  David,"  but  '-David'' 
himself.  Mount  Zion  and  Jerusalem,  the  religious 
and  civil  metropolis  of  the  nation,  signify  the  Church 
redeemed  by  the  blood  of  the  only  true  sacrifice  for 
sin,  and  serving  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The  ag- 
grandizement and  enlargement  of  Jerusalem,  are  the 
enlargement  and  increase  of  that  church.  Her  ene- 
mies are  called  by  the  names  of  the  ancient  enemies 
of  Judah — Egypt.  Amnion,  Moab,  Edom,  and  Baby- 
lon. The  restoration  of  the  Jews  in  latter  days  to  the 
blessings  of  God's  covenant,  is  symbolized  by  their  re- 
building a  temple  on  Mount^Moriah  :  and  the  union 
of  all  nations  in  the  love  and  worship  of  God,  is 
sh.adowed  forth  by  a  universal  participation  in  the 
feast  of  tabeinacles.  Tlie  extinction  of  sectarian 
feuds,  and  the  delightful  harmony  pievailing  among 
the  lovers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  especially  the  re- 
deemed children  of  Abraham,  is  beautifully  represented 
by  the  healing  of  the  ancient  sej}aration  betw^een  Israel 
and  Judah. 

There  is  nothing  strange  in  this.  It  is  perfectly 
natural  to  invest  our  conceptions  with  the  hue  appro- 
priate to  our  physical  and  moral  condition,  and  the 
objects  witli  which  we  are  daily  conversant.  Where 
could  the  prophet  have  gone,  if  precluded  from  this 
source  of  coloring  ?  Besides,  there  was  a  most  serious 
truth   at  the  bottom.     Our  blessed  Saviour  tells  us, 


200  INTERPRETATION    OP    SCRIPTURE. 

that  he  came  not  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfil — in 
other  words,  that  his  religion  is  but  the  purification  and 
expansion  of  the  faith  of  God's  ancient  people.  How 
entirely  becoming  then  was  it,  that  the  spirit  of  pro- 
phecy should  paint  its  future  glory  in  those  forms  of 
thought,  to  which  the  people  were  accustomed,  and 
which  were  so  dear  to  the  national  heart ! 

These  remarks  have  perhaps  been  unduly  protract- 
ed. But  the  subject  is  important,  and  we  think — not 
always  understood.  Besides,  our  statement  of  general 
principles,  relieves  from  the  necessity  of  entering  into 
a  minute  detail  of  rules:  two  only  shall  be  specified. 

1st.  Be  not  anxious  to  find  chronological  connec- 
tion and  order  in  the  jjrQphecies.  They  are  all  frag- 
mentary, and  exhibit  their  subject  in  detached  pieces. 
We  have  also  seen,  that  events  the  most  widely  sep- 
arated in  time,  are  grouped  together,  as  if  contem- 
porary, or  immediately  following  each  other.  Due  re- 
gard to  this,  will  enable  us  to  dispense  with  many 
violent  expedients  which  have  been  resorted  to  by  the 
learned  ;  especially  with  the  irrational  assumption  of 
a  "  double  sense"  in  prophecy.  That  which  gave  it 
favor  with  commentators,  was  the  fact  above  stated, 
that  events  far  separated  in  time,  were  closely  con 
nected  in  description — to  explain  which,  they  found  it 
convenient  to  suppose  two  distinct  fulfilments.  The 
first,  they  imagined  to  take  place  in  some  event  which 
occurred  among  the  Jewish  people,  during^the  existence 
of  their  economy.     The  second  and  more  perfect,  was 


PROPHECY.  201 

realized  in  llie  advent  of  the  Saviour.     To  give  the 
schchie  greater  re.>^pecl ability,  it  was  married   to  Ty- 
pology, w  ho  adopied  tlie  children  as  her  own,  calling 
the  temporal   fultilment — the  ti/pe,  and   the  other  the 
antitype.     A  good  example  occurs  in  the  10th  and 
11th  chapters  of  Isaiah  already  quoted.     The  10th,  an- 
nounces the  destruction  of  the  xlssyrian  empire.     In 
the  11th,  the  prophet  advances  at  once  to  the  glories 
of  the  Messiah's  leign — ^when    '-•  the  wolf  shall  dwell 
with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard  with  the  kid,  and  no- 
thing shall  hurt  nor  destroy,  in  all  God's  holy  moun- 
tain."'    Yet  not  a  few  contend,  that  this  magnificent 
prophecy    had    a   primary    fulfilment    in    Hezekiah ; 
though  they  grant  a  far  more  complete  accomplish- 
ment in  our  Redeemer,  of  whom  we  need  not  add  that 
they  suppose  Hezekiah  to  have  been  a  type  ! 

The  view  is  arbitrary  beyond  measure,  and  opposed 
to  facts.     We   maintain   without  fear,  that   wherever 
Christ  is  definitely  spoken  of  at  all,  he  is  spoken  of 
alone,  and  where  the  blessedness  of  his  rule  is  deline- 
ated, no  other  blessedness  is  delineated.     Even  in  the 
Messianic  Psalms,  he  is  the  entire  subject.     David 
may  hav^e  gathered  materials  of  his  descriptions  from 
incidents  in  his  own   life  and   experience,  but  in  no 
proper  sense  does   he  speak  of  himself.     His  exalted 
'•Lord  "is   the  all   in   all   which  occupies   his    mind. 
When   you   meet   therefore  a  passage,   connecting  at 
once   the  coming  of  a   glorious   epoch  with    the    re~ 
building  of  the  temple  afier  the  Babylonish  captivity, 
9 


203 


INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE, 


dismiss  all   anxiety  to  find  it  partially  or   typically 
fulfilled  in  Zerubbabel,  or  Alexander  the  great,  or  the 
Maccabees  ;    but  instantly   transport  yourselves  into 
Messianic  times,  or,  if  necessary,  to  the  consummation 
of  all    things.     The  notion   that    prophecy  has   two 
senses,  a  primary  and  secondary,  throws  a  dark  cloud 
of  suspicion  over  both — almost  conceding  to  the  infi- 
del, that  it  is  a  kind  of  writing  which  cannot  be  un- 
derstood  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  exegesis.      Above 
all,  it  is  fatal  to  the  argument  drawn  from  this  source 
in  favor  of  the  Gospel.     When  we  advance  a  predic- 
tion from  the  Old  Testament   to  establish  the  divine 
mission  of  Jesus,  its  whole  proving  force  lies  in  this — 
that    a   series    of  events    is    announced,    which  was 
verified  in  him,  and  him  alone.     But  if  we  discover  a 
specific  meaning  in  it  which  has  no  reference  to  him  ; 
the  infidel  by  accepting  it  relieves   himself  from   all 
pressure — reminding  us  of  our  discovery,  and  waving 
off  the   secondary  and  mystical  senses  we  offer  him, 
with  a  polite  but  peremptory  "Credat  Judaeus  Apella." 

It  is  surprising  to  what  length  this  mode  of  in- 
terpreting the  Old  Testament  has  been  carried.  Gro- 
tius  may  be  quoted  as  an  example,  who  does  not  find 
more  than  six  passages  in  the  whole  volume,  which 
immediately  relate  to  the  Saviour.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  gives  him  the  benefit  of  the  second  sense 
with  princely  liberality — as  for  instance  in  his  com- 
mentary on  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  Isaiah.  He  ac- 
tually makes  the  wonderful  personage  there  delineated. 


I 


PROPHECY.  203 

whose  vicarious  suflfeiings  and  glorious  exaltation, 
after  redeeming  his  people,  are  described  with  such 
strength  of  expression,  and  perfect  accordance  with 
the  New  Testament  portraiture  of  Christ,  that  it  seems 
rather  history  than  prediction,  to  be  the  prophet  Jere- 
miah!! He  grants,  indeed,  at  the  commencement, 
that  in  "a  more  sublime  sense,"'  it  applies  to  the 
Messiah :  but  that  this  is  only  a  graceful  bow — a  '•  leav- 
ing his  card  with  compliments,"  appears  very  clearly  in 
the  fact  that  he  scarcely  mentions  him  again,  while 
"Jeremiah"  stands  out  prominently  in  every  verse. 
AYe  confess  that  in  reading  such  gallimatia,  we  can 
hardly  repress  a  feeling  of  contempt  towards  the 
interpreter,  or  the  author  he  expounds :  and  if  we 
believed  that  the  latter  \vas  rightly  expounded,  we 
would  devoutly  pray  that  he  might  be  conveyed,  as 
soon  as  possible,  to  the  lumber-room  of  the  antiquary, 
never  again  to  see  the  light  of  the  sun  !  Thus  ex- 
plained, the  w^iole  prophetic  record,  instead  of  being 
a  buttress  to  Christianity,  would  be  a  "  bowing  w^all 
and  a  tottering  fence,"  which  its  enlightened  advocate 
would  be  glad  to  see  cleared  away  to  the  last  stone ! 

Yet  there  are  few  errors  in  the  w^orld  made  up  of 
pure  falsehood,  and  even  this  contains  something 
which  entitles  it  to  benefit  of  clergy.  There  are 
prophecies  which,  from  their  indefinite  and  general 
nature,  admit  manifold  applications,  and  are  not 
necessarily  determined  to  one  specific  event.  In  other 
words,  they  contain,   or  are  based  on  certain  great 


204  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

principles^  adopted  by  God  in  the  goveniment  of  the 
church  and  the  world,  which  principles  develop  them- 
selves in  all  appropriate  circumstances.  This  is  en- 
tirely different  from  the  double  sense  referred  to.  The 
sense  is  one :  but  as  with  all  general  enunciations, 
there  is  a  pregnancy  in  it  which  allows  its  fulfilment 
• — not  a  second  time  merely,  but  a  tenth,  or  if  it  please 
God,  a  thousandth.  Thus,  when  he  promises  that 
after  long  chastising  the  daughter  of  Zion,  he  will 
return  and  heal  her  backsliding — that  he  will  impart 
to  her  children  true  repentance  for  their  sins,  and 
establish,  as  of  old,  his  throne  in  the  midst  of  them — 
that  their  enemies  shall  be  confounded,  their  number 
increased,  the  Gentile  nations  bow  down  before  them, 
(fee,  we  know  that  they  are  general  truths — edicts  of 
perpetual  force,  which,  though  spoken  immediately 
in  connection  with  a  single  event  in  histor}',  have  a 
far  more  extensive  application.  They  will  be  always 
verified — though  more  strikingly  at  one  period  than 
another.  The  deliverance  from  Babylon,  for  instance, 
was  part  of  a  comprehensive  scheme  of  divine  wisdom 
and  mercy,  which  ages  before,  wrought  similar  re- 
demptions, and  would  unfold  itself  still  more  glo- 
riously in  the  distant  future. 

We  have  here  a  beautiful  feature  of  the  divine 
government,  well  deserving  our  study.  It  does  not 
proceed  capriciously,  or  with  a  zigzag  movement, 
like  the  schemes  of  men  ;  but  steadily  onward,  ac- 
cording to  a  few  great  ideas  in  the  bosom  of  God  j  so 


PROPHECY.  205 

that  though  a  careless  observer  sees  nolhing  around 
him  but  change  and  accident,  there  is  really  nothing 
that  can  be  called  new  under  tlie  sun.  The  Messiah 
himself  lived  before  his  coming,  in  dark,  shadowy- 
resemblances — beinof  the  crowninsr  realization  of  a 
great  thought,  that  has  been  ever  present  to  the  di- 
vine mind,  and  shapes  all  its  plans  and  purposes — the 
thought,  that  as  man,  by  his  own  free  will,  produced 
the  whole  mass  of  evil  under  whose  heavy  weight  he 
ceaselessly  groans,  so  his  victory  over  them  must  be 
achieved  by  himself.  Suffering  humanity  is  to  find 
her  deliverer  i7i  her  own  lacerated  bosom !  The 
drama  of  redemption  opened  in  paradise  with  this 
proeme.  In  that  first  word  of  hope  which  cheered  the 
hearts  of  our  unhappy  parents,  by  the  assurance  that 
their  seed  should  '-bruise  the  head"  of  their  adver- 
sary, a  principle  was  contained  that  did  not  sleep 
through  the  long  interval  of  four  thousand  years,  and 
then  suddenly  awakened,  to  usher  in  the  great  author 
of  our  spiritual  redemption — but  it  put  forth  its  living 
energy  through  every  successive  age,  in  those  noble 
spirits,  whose  achievements  in  the  cause  of  God  and 
human  happiness,  proved  that  there  was  a  power  at 
work  in  the  world  greater  than  that  of  evil. 

In  this  point  of  view,  we  admit,  with  a  feeling  very 
different  from  reluctance,  that  the  prophecies  of  Mes- 
siah's day  were  also  so  many  indirect  pointiTigs 
to  events  which  preceded  it,  and  bore  to  it  a  certain 
analogy,  as   expressions  of  one  great  law.     As   the 


206  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

terrible  cataclysms  which  change  the  face  of  nature 
are  usually  introduced  by  strange  appalling  sounds 
and  convulsive  heavings,  that  may  be  called  her 
sighs  and  notes  of  woe,  in  anticipation  of  the  approach- 
ing catastrophe,  so  the  jubilee  of  man's  salvation  had 
its  glad  precursors.  The  anthem  sung  by  angels  on 
the  plains  of  Bethlehem  at  the  advent  of  its  glorious 
author,  was  not  entirely  new.  Ten  centuries  before 
that  memorable  night,  an  ear  open  to  celestial  me- 
lodies might  have  heard  its  faint  echo  and  rever- 
beration on  the  same  favored  spot,  at  the  birth  of  a 
royal  man-child,  in  the  cot  of  Jesse !  So  far,  we  are 
willing  to  go :  all  this,  we  lovingly  embrace  :  but  still 
retaining  a  mortal  antipathy  to  the  doctrine,  as  usually 
understood,  of  a  ''double  sense." 

2.  Do  not  inteiyret  Prophecy  too  literally.  Its 
splendid  imagery,  and  glowing  pictures  must  not  be 
tortured  into  statements,  such  as  a  witness  makes  in 
a  court  of  justice,  or  a  historian  in  describing  the 
campaigns  of  Wellington,  or  Bonaparte :  they  are 
figures,  and  must  be  treated  as  figures.  Here,  our 
Millenarian  Brethren  err  exceedingly.  Their  whole 
hypothesis  of  the  Jews  becoming  pre-eminent  as  a 
nation  over  all  the  people  of  the  earth,  the  actual 
subjugation  of  the  latter  under  their  political  sway, 
the  rebuilding  of  the  temple,  the  resurrection  of  the 
martyrs,  and  the  personal  residence  of  Christ  as  a 
temporal  monarch  in  Jerusalem,  rests  on  no  other 
basis  than  the  assumption,  that  tropes  when  found  in 


PROPHECY.  207 

the  Bible  tell  the  literal  truth.  It  is  the  very  error 
committed  by  the  carnal  Jews  themselves,  and  which 
led  to  their  rejection  of  the  Just  One.  Inflated  with 
the  most  fanlastic  hopes  and  anticipations  nurtured 
by  their  mistaken  interpretation  of  Prophetic  symbols, 
they  crucified  their  prince,  not  because  he  failed  in 
proving  his  celestial  mission,  but  because  he  had 
nothing  to  offer  them,  except  a  '-kingdom,  that  was 
lighteousness,  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost." 

To  the  instances  already  cited,  proving  that  the 
imagery  taken  from  the  Theocracy  was  symbolical  of 
great  moral  and  spiritual  truths,  we  add  the  following, 
merely  as  specimens  :  the  student  must  pursue  the 
investigation  for  himself  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
11th  chapter  of  Isaiah,  we  have  a  magnificent  ac 
count  of  the  martial  gathering  of  the  Jews  under  the 
standard  of  the  Messiah,  and  their  brilliant  conquests 
over  enemies.  The  question  is,  whether  we  must  un- 
derstand it  literally  ?  Try  the  principle  upon  the  14th 
verse  ;  '•  But  they  shall  fly  upon  the  shoulders  (the 
figure  is  taken  from  the  pouncing  of  a  ravenous  bird) 
of  the  Philistines  toward  the  west ;  they  shall  lay 
their  hand  upon  Edom  and  Moab,  and  the  children  of 
Amnion  shall  obey  them."  These  were  the  ancient 
enemies  of  the  theocracy,  and  are  according  to  our 
view,  selected  by  the  Poet  with  great  taste  and  ap- 
propriateness, as  representatives  of  every  thing  opposed 
to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  covenanted  people, 
when    thev   should    have    submitted    themselves    to 


208  INTERPRETATIOX    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

Christ.  If  wrong  in  this,  we  see  no  alternative  but  to 
expect  along  with  a  resurrection  of  the  martyrs,  that 
of  all  the  savage  clans  who  infested  Israel  during  her 
national  existence.  Try  it  on  the  15th  verse  :  "The 
Lord  shall  utterly  destroy  the  tongue  of  the  Egyptian 
sea.  and  shake  his  hand  over  the  river,  and  smite  it  in 
the  seven  streams,  and  make  men  go  over  dry  shod.*' 
There  is  here,  a  beautiful  allusion  to  the  Exodus  of 
Israel  from  Egypt  through  the  Red  Sea.  On  that 
occasion,  God  brought  his  people  safely  through  the 
raging  waters,  but  now — he  promises  that  he  will 
utterly  destroy  the  sea  itself  Can  this  mean  any 
thing  more,  than  that  when  his  ancient  people  are  to 
be  gathered  into  the  Chiistian  fold,  he  will  remove 
every  obstruction  ;  no  obstacle  shall  be  so  great,  that 
he  will  not  put  it  out  of  the  way  by  his  almighty 
power. 

In  Hosea  ii.  14,  God  promises  that  he  will  bring  his 
church  '•  into  the  wilderness,  and  speak  comfortably 
to  her  as  in  the  day  when  she  came  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  give  her  vineyards  and  the  valley  of  Achor 
for  a  door  of  hope."  No  one  surely  dreams,  that  the 
Jews  are  again  to  travel  through  Arabia  Petraea,'under 
the  guidance  of  the  fire  and  cloud.  The  words  are 
plainly  allusive,  and  express  the  general  idea — that 
God  will  deliver  his  people  from  their  spiritual  bond- 
age, and  give  them  every  proof  of  his  cordial  and 
tender  love. 

What  shall  be  done  with  such  a  passage  as  that  in 


PROPHECY.  209 

Malachi,  which  distinctly  states  that  the  old  Prophet 
Elijah  is  to  come  from  heaven,  and  announce  the  ad- 
vent of  the  Messiah?  "Behold  I  send  Elijah  the 
prophet  before  the  coming  of  the  great  and  dreadful 
day  of  the  Lord."  Nothing  is  more  express  ;  and  the 
literalist  would  most  certainly  add  to  the  accompani- 
ments of  the  personal  advent,  a  mission  of  this  prophet, 
(as  some  have  done,)  if  Christ  had  not  determined  him 
in  Matthew  xi.  14,  to  be  John  the  Baptist.  We  are 
so  happy  in  this  case,  as  to  have  not  only  a  New  Tes- 
tament interpretation  of  the  phrase  as  applied  to  John, 
but  a  New  Testament  statement  of  the  reason  for  it, 
w^iich  we  take  leave  to  employ  as  our  key,  in  opening 
other  dark  chambers  in  ancient  Prophesy.  Luke  i.  17: 
"  He  shall  go  in  the  sjjirit  and  jjower  of  Elias.  to  turn 
the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and  the  dis- 
obedient to  the  wisdom  of  the  just." 

The  33d  chapter  of  Jeremiah  exhibits  the  principle 
for  which  we  contend,  in  so  clear  and  decisive  a  man- 
ner, that  it  is  quite  sufficient  of  itself  to  settle  the  ques- 
tion. God  is  promising  to  his  people,  the  advent  of 
their  great  spiritual  Redeemer,  and  the  happy  conse- 
quences of  his  reign  are  graphically  descibed  in  v.  15  : 
'•  In  those  days  will  I  cause  the  Branch  to  grow  up 
unto  David.  In  those  days  shall  Judah  be  saved,  and 
Jerusalem  shall  dwell  safely  ;  and  this  is  the  name 
wherewitlj  she  shall  be  called,  The  Lord  our  right- 
eousness." That  the  Prophet  is  expatiating  on  the 
blessedness  of  the  new  economy  in  these  words,  is  be- 
9* 


210  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

yond  a  doubt.  But  what  tliought  immediately  follows  ? 
Surely,  unless  I  apply  my  key,  a  very  singular  one: 
V.  18,  "  Neither  (in  these  times)  shall  the  Priests  and 
Levites  want  a  man  before  me  to  offer  burnt  offerings^ 
and  to  kindle  meat  offerings,  and  to  do  sacrifice  con- 
tinually.^^ Is  it  possible  to  consider  this  as  any  thing 
more  than  symbol,  borrowed  from  the  Levitical  service 
of  the  old  economy?  Will  Aaron  return  from  his 
grave  ;  Christian  altars  rise  to  steam  with  the  blood  of 
rams,  lambs,  and  he-goats;  and  the  purified  churches 
of  the  Redeemer  return  to  those  weak  and  beggarly 
elements  from  which  she  has  been  delivered  ?  The 
fantastic  notion  got  up  to  evade  the  force  of  many  pas- 
sages resembling  this,  that  the  Jews  will  return  to  their 
own  land  unconverted^  and  offer  sacrifices,  is  of  no 
service  here.  The  Levitical  bondage  is  expressly  de- 
clared to  be  enduring^  and  its  continuance  is  repre- 
sented as  one  of  the  most  glorious  incidents  of  King 
Messiah's  reign. 

It  is  needless  to  dwell  on  a  point  so  evident.  The 
scheme  of  these  ingenious  gentlemen  cannot  stand 
It  introduces  a  worldly  element  in  our  holy  religion 
at  utter  variance  with  its  genius  and  spirit.  By  its 
dazzling  promises  of  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth 
and  their  glory,"  it  strengthens  tlie  earthly  principle 
within  us,  and  greatly  lowers  the  tone  of  Christian 
sentiment.  It  dishonors  the  glorified  person  of  our 
Redeemer,  by  degrading  him  from  the  seventh  hea- 
vens to   our  miserable  earth,  from  the  right  hand  of 


PROPHECY.  211 

the  Eternal  Foilier,  to  a  marble  hovel  in  Jeru.^alein  : 
and  all  this  it  does,  not  only  without  necessity,  but  in 
violation  as  we  think  of  the  plainest  rules  of  sound 
interpretation. 

With  regard  to  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  we  have 
made  no  special  reference  to  it,  as  its  highly  figura- 
tive and  allegorical  character  strikes  every  reader  at 
once.  Indeed  it  is  surprising,  that  persons  should  be 
found  capable  even  in  their  dreams,  of  putting  literal 
constructions  on  any  part  of  a  book  so  decidedly  and 
professedly  enigmatical,  with  the  exception  of  the  first 
three  chapters.  Yet  this  is  done  to  a  certain  extent 
by  the  expositors  above  mentioned,  though  they  are 
far  from  carrying  out  the  principle  with  due  con- 
sistency. They  grant  all  we  are  disposed  to  ask,  con- 
cerning the  general  structure  of  the  poem  ;  for  poem, 
beyond  all  doubt,  it  is.  They  allow,  that  its  angels 
with  their  trumpets,  sickles  and  vials — its  thrones, 
four  living  creatures,  and  elders  clothed  in  white — 
its  '-locusts,"  like  horses  prepared  unto  the  battle — 
"its  red  dragon  with  seven  heads  and  ten  horns'"' 
—its  woman  "clothed  with  the  sun  "'  and  that  other 
female  who  '•  sits  on  many  waters  and  is  drunk  with 
the  blood  of  Saints,"  are  parts  of  a  splendid  gallery 
of  emblematic  pictures,  designed  to  represent  cer- 
tain great  moral  truths  connected  with  the  state 
and  progress  of  the  church  in  different  ages.  But 
when  they  come  to  the  Martyrs  corner,  they  sudden- 
ly wax  literal— insisting  that  the  "souls  of  them  that 


212  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

were  beheaded  for  the  witness  of  Jesus,"  are  the  iden- 
tical men  and  women  who  died  at  former  periods,  and 
are  now  lo  rise  from  their  graves  and  reign  with 
Christ  in  person,  a  thousand  calendar  years  !  This 
theory,  they  maintain  in  the  face  of  two  plain  and 
undeniable  facts;  first,  that  the  resurrection  of  the 
martyrs,  stands  in  the  very  centre  of  the  boldest  sym- 
bolical imagery  which  the  book  contains  ;  and  second- 
ly, that  ^'resurrection^''  is  a  favorite  figure  em])loyed 
by  the  Prophets,  to  denote  any  great  moral  renova- 
tion in  general,  and  is  used  in  cases  where  physical 
resuscitation  is  entirely  out  of  the  question.  Isa. 
xxxvi.  19,  Ezek.  xxxvii.  13,  Hos.  vi.  2.  Sober  criti- 
cism would  draw  a  conclusion  directly  opposite  to 
that  of  these  gentlemen — would  infer  that  the  phrase 
in  question  cannot  possibly  receive  any  other  tlian  a 
figurative  sense,  on  the  very  rational  and  obvious 
principle,  that  a  symbolical  document  must  be  sym- 
holically  interpreted. 

While,  however,  we  diflfer  from  the  literalists  ;  let  us 
avoid  tlie  other  extreme,  that  of  turning  Prophesy  en- 
tirely into  figure.  Doubtless  many  things  will  take 
place,  substantially  as  described.  Such  we  think  is 
the  promised  return  of  the  Jews  to  their  own  land. 
We  build  the  opinion,  not  so  much  on  expressions 
used  in  the  Prophets,  which  wight  all  be  symbolical 
of  their  union  to  the  spiritual  theocracy^  as  on  the 
covenant  stipulations  given  to  the  people  in  the  land 
of  Moab,  and  recorded  in  the  30th  and  31st  chapters 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  213 

of  Deuteronomy.  This  legislative  edict,  which  I 
have  no  right  perhaps,  to  treat  as  a  predictive  poem, 
states  most  emphatically,  and  with  great  variety  of 
phrase,  that  if  after  being  rooted  out  of  their  country 
they  should  repent,  the  '•  Lord  their  God  would  bring 
them  backint  othe  land,  which  their  fathers  possessed, 
and  they  should  possess  it."  Still  more  confidently 
do  we  believe  in  their  conversion  to  Christ,  their  holy 
brotherhood  with  the  Gentiles,  and  the  universal 
reign  of  peace  on  the  earth.  How  far  the  literal  ful- 
filment will  be  carried,  w^e  are  ignorant.  God  did  not 
give  us  prophecy,  that  we  might  know  all  things  ;  but 
might  have  encouragements  to  faith,  and  incentives 
to  holy  exertion.  The  expositor  who  has  not  learnt 
to  be  ignorant — and  to  let  his  ignorance  sit  gracefully 
on  him,  has  yet  to  learn  the  elements  of  his  art. 


RULE    X. 


Allow  no  interpretation^  that  loill  cast  a  shade  of 
doubt  over  the  perfect  purity  and  truth  of  our  Lord>s 
teachings^  or  those  of  his  Apostles.  This  may  seem  an 
unnecessarily  pompous  enunciation  of  something  that  is 
self-evident.  But  lamentable  facts  prove  the  contrary. 
Our  German  friends  give  us  no  little  trouble  with  cer- 
tain discoveries  which  they  profess  to  have  made  in 
the  Hermeneutice  of  the  New  Testament,  and  have 


214  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

invented  or  borrowed  a  theory,  by  which  they  contrive 
to  rid  themselves  of  every  truth  contained  in  it,  that 
does  not  please  them. 

Its  fundamental  principle  is  this.     Christ  and  his 
Apostles  were  noble  spirits,  who  soared  far  above  the 
level  of  their  age,  and  with  Plato,  but  more  justly  than 
Plato,  might  be  called   '-heaven-born  accidents."     In 
a   certain  sense,    but  a  fine  and   transcendental  one 
which  we  do  not  stop  to  explain,  they  were  even  in- 
spired.    But  they  were  also  Jeios  ;  lived  among  Jews  ; 
their  mission  was  to  Jews,  and  like  wise  men,  they  took 
advantage  of  their   situation.     Not   wishing    to   dis- 
please  the  people,  and  desirous  of  gaining  admittance 
to  their  minds,  they  turned  themselves  into  thorough- 
going Rabbis — indulging  in  all  those  fanciful  opinions 
and    speculations,  which  were   so   admired   by  their 
countrymen.     Thus,  they  had  a  coanplete  science  of 
angelology,  and  demonology.     Christ  adopted  it,  and 
when    mad    or    epiletic    persons     were    brought     to 
him,   he    said   that   they    were    possessed  w^ith   "c?e- 
mo?i5."     They  believed  that  when  Messiah  came,  he 
would  raise  the  just  from  their  graves.     He  humored 
them  in  this  also,  and  taught  the  '•  Resurrection  .•" 
borrowing  with  the  same  freedom  their  notion  of  a 
great   subterranean    vorago,    in    whose    sulphureous 
flames  the  wicked  should  be  eternally  tormented. 

This  principle  is  unsparingly  applied  to  the  use 
which  he  and  his  disciples  make  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment.    Indeed,  it  is  from  this  source   its  supporters 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  2l5 

draw  iheii-  arguments,  almost  exclusively.  The  mys- 
tical and  allegorical  mode  of  expounding — the  wish 
to  find  recondite  meanings  in  the  simplest  passages 
and  even  in  the  arrangement  of  words  and  letters, 
had  become,  it  is  alleged,  a  perfect  mania,  to  which 
grammar,  logic,  and  common  sense  were  sacrificed 
without  remorse.  To  this  mode  of  teaching  the  wise 
Redeemer  conformed.  We  are  not  to  look  therefore 
for  any  solidity  in  the  arguments  he  employs  from  the 
Old  Testament.  It  is  enough,  that  his  ultimate  con- 
clusions are  found  coireci,  after  a  careful  sifting — 
the  premises  being  nothing  more  than  "  argumenta  ad 
hominem,"  which  suited  the  people  of  that  time  and 
place,  but  have  no  force  in  the  present  day,  at  least 
for  gentlemen  who  have  passed  through  the  curricu- 
lum scientiarum,  in  the  university  of  Leipsic  or  Got- 
tingen. 

This  is  the  famous  doctrine  of  '-Accommodation," 

'•  Condescension,"— "Wise  (Economy,"  which  prevails 
on  the  European  continent,  and  with  which  the  neol- 
ogist  performs  such  marvels  in  exegesis.  Its  meaning 
cannot  be  mistaken.  The  sacred  writers  of  the  New 
Testament  cared  not  a  straw  for  the  oceans  of  false- 
hood and  nonsense  they  slavered  forth,  if  they  only 
struck  the  fancy  of  those  whom  they  wished  to  make 
Christians.  They  were  the  Father  Jesuits  of  those 
days,  who  regarded  not  the  means,  if  the  end  was 
good,  and  spared  no  arts  of  chicanery  that  would 
promote  their  object.     It  is  really  surprising,  that  men 


216  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

calling  theinselves  Christian  divines,  should  under 
any  temptation  resort  to  a  scheme  so  fatal  to  all  trust 
in  divine  revelation  ;  and  which  charges  our  blessed 
Redeemer  with  a  policy,  that  would  disgrace  the 
scurviest  demagogue,  that  ever  mounted  a  stump,  to 
entertain  with  bunkum  an  ignorant  half-drunken 
mob  !  Had  he  pursued  it,  he  would  not  have  been  a 
teacher  for  Hottentots,  and,  in  a  short  time,  would 
have  been  cast  off  by  his  warmest  admirers,  in  conse- 
quence of  finding  that  they  could  not  depend  on  any- 
thing he  said.  Lie  number  one^  they  could  have 
endured  perhaps,  from  grateful  feelings  to  a  teacher 
who  betrayed  such  anxiety  to  please  them.  But  who 
could  bear  a  succession  of  lies,  or  attend  a  course  of 
ir  struction  based  on  lying  ?  Strange  as  the  thing 
nay  seem,  these  gentlemen  could  do  it:  for  with  a 
recklessness  that  can  be  only  explained  by  the  ten- 
dency of  certain  studies  exclusively  pursued,  to  de- 
moralize the  intellect  and  blunt  its  perception  of  the 
difference  between  right  and  wrong,  they  justify  the 
practice ;  contending  that  it  is  nothing  more  than  a 
fair  application  of  the  '-argumentum  ad  hominem." 

There  is  no  truth  in  their  assertion.  That  the  "  ar- 
gumentum  ad  hominem,"  in  other  words,  the  assump- 
tion of  the  false  opinion  of  one  whom  we  seek  to 
convince  is  allowable  in  certain  cases,  may  be  admit- 
ted ;  though  of  all  modes  of  reasoning  it  is  the  last 
which  a  lofty  mind  would  resort  to,  unless  the  object 
proposed   was   action,  rather   than   conviction.     But 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  217 

there  is  a  limitation  which  no  man  of  the  least  self- 
respect  will  neglect.  The  person  to  he  convinced 
must  understand  his  teacher — that  he  is  not  teaching^ 
hut  removing  ohstructions,  and  using  the  errors  and 
false  opinions  which  darken  his  mind,  for  no  other 
purpose  but  to  prepare  him  for  the  truth.  There  is 
not  indeed  always  a  necessity  of  explicit  statement, 
for  the  true  intent  may  be  gathered  from  attending 
circumstances — or  the  avowal  of  it  may  be  deferred  to 
another  occasion.  But  sooner  or  later  it  must  appear, 
and  certainly  will  appear,  if  the  teacher  has  any  high- 
er object  in  view  than  to  bewilder  and  mislead  some 
poor  simpleton  whom  he  has  selected  to  be  the  victim 
of  his  superior  ingenuity.  Above  all,  we  demand  this 
from  a  religious  instructor  who  declares  that  he  comes 
from  God  to  enlighten  the  moral  darkness  of  the  soul. 
To  imagine  the  contrary — to  suppose  that  the  great 
Being  would  allow  his  ambassador  to  furnish  the 
child  of  immortality  with  a  chart  full  of  errors  and 
false  directions,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  pretext, 
is  to  suppose  that  he  has. usurped  the  throne  of  the 
Devil,  and  robbed  him  of  his  proper  paternity  :  Satan 
can  no  more  claim  to  be  the  '-father  of  lies  !"  This 
maybe  called  declamation,  rather  than  argument; 
but  it  is  the  only  way  of  treating  the  subject.  Mo- 
rality is  a  thing  not  to  be  established  by  reasoning, 
nor  is  false  morality  to  be  refuted  by  it.  Both  are  the 
objects  of  pure  intuitive  perception — and  when  a  fun- 


218  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

dainental  error  is  committed,  all  that  remains  is  to 
place  it  vividly,  and  distinctly  before  the  mind. 

We  have  said,  tiiat  the  principal  support  whicli  they 
find  for  their  theory,  is  the  way  in  which  Christ  and 
his  Apostles  quote  the  Old  Testament.  The  remarks 
that  follow  shall  therefore  be  mainly  directed  to  this 
point,  and  will  make  the  falsehood  of  their  allegations 
level  to  the  comprehension  of  a  child. 

The  quotations  in  the  Gospel  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, are  of  two  kinds ;  first.  The  Rhetorical,  as  we 
choose  to  call  them,  the  design  of  whicl\  is  to  illustrate  ; 
secondl}^,  the  Logical,  which  aims  to  instruct,  and 
convince.  These  must  be  carefully  separated,  though 
the  friends  of  accommodation  evince  great  care  in  en- 
deavoring to  confound  them. 

The  Rhetorical  use  of  the  Old  Testament,  consists 
in  the  employment  by  Christ  and  his  apostles  of  its 
ideas  and  expressions,  to  impart  vivacity  and  force  to 
their  own  conceptions.  From  very  eaily  times,  the 
Jews  glowed  with  a  love  and  veneration  for  their 
sacred  books,  of  which  we  can  scarcely  form  an  idea. 
They  were  their  pride,  their  delight,  their  constant 
study — combining  in  one,  all  their  civil  polity,  history, 
liteiature,  and  religious  faith.  They  sang  them,  they 
prayed  in  them,  they  carried  them  to  their  fasts  and 
their  feasts,  to  their  marriages,  and  funeral  solemnities, 
to  their  courts  of  Javr,  to  tlieir  temple,  and  their  syna- 
gogues. Let  the  reader  imagine  if  he  pleases,  all  our 
books  of  poetry  and  prose,  of  geography,  law,  science, 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  219 

and  theology  fused  and  amalgamated  into  a  single 
volume,  he  will  form  an  exceedingly  faint  conception  of 
that  which  his  Scriptures  were  to  a  son  of  Abraham, 
eigliteen  hundred  years  ago.  Is  it  surprising  then, 
that  they  should  become  an  inexhaustible  treasury  of 
thoughts,  phrases,  sentiments,  on  which  they  drew 
when  under  the  influence  of  deep  emotion  ?  Tiiis 
they  would  do,  without  troubling  themselves  with  nice 
questions  about  the  exact  meaning  of  what  they 
quoted.  Man  is  something  more  than  a  reasoning 
machine, — a  mere  grinder  of  syllogisms.  He  is  not 
always  with  square  in  hand,  taking  the  dimensions 
of  a  pyramid,  nor  demonstrating  the  relation  between 
cosines  and  tangents.  He  feels  joy  and  sorrow,  fear 
and  love, — soars  in  hope,  or  creeps  in  despondency. 
In  such  cases,  hovv'  pleasant  to  the  man  of  taste  and 
reading,  that  he  can  pour  out  his  heart  in  the  words 
of  some  favorite  author  !  The  products  of  his  own 
mind  areentirely  too  mean,  to  be  the  vehicle  of  expres- 
sion for  the  strong  emotions  pent  up  within  ;  and  he 
borrows  the  wings  of  his  bard,  whose  glorious  crea- 
tions have  become  so  entwined  with  every  fibre  of  his 
soul,  that  he  scarcely  recognizes  them  as  another's, 
but  treats  them  as  part  of  his  own  living  self. 

Thus  was  it  with  the  Jew,  and  thus  with  the  Jew- 
ish Saviour,  and  his  Jewish  apostles.  Is  it  in  the 
least  wonderful  then,  that  a  rich  poetical  coloring 
should  be  spread  over  all  their  conceptions ;  that 
whenever  they  opened  their  mouth,  there  would  drop 


220  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

lilies  and  roses  called  fjom  the  fair  garden  where  they 
spent  their  happiest  hours,  communing  with  God  and 
their  own  pure  and  holy  thoughts  ?  In  such  uHer- 
anceSj  there  was  nothing  studied  or  sought  after.  The 
idea  hefore  their  minds  called  up  by  natural  association 
some  passage  from  the  Old  Testament;  which  re- 
quired no  bidding  to  make  its  appearance,  and  was 
thrown  out  in  illustration  of  the  principal  thought, 
Avith  graceful  artlessness.  Nor  was  it  necessary  that 
the  correspondence  between  them  should  be  real,  and 
intimate.  Nothing  more  was  required  than  such  a 
degree  of  resemblance,  (perhaps  merely  verbal)  as 
would  please  the  fancy,  and  enliven  the  sentiment  to 
be  expressed. 

In  this  way  the  fact  is  explained,  that  there  are 
in  the  New^  Testament  no  less  than  nine  hundred 
references  to  its  venerable  sister,  most  of  which  belong 
to  the  class  vmder  our  notice.  We  gave  some  exam- 
ples in  discussing  our  seventh  Rule,  and  they  must 
not  be  multiplied.  Let  the  Reader  turn  back  to  them 
for  a  moment,  and  he  will  need  no  additional  illustra- 
tions. The  first  w^ill  fully  answer  his  purpose:  "A 
voice  in  Rama,  lamentation  and  great  mourning, 
Rachel  weeping  for  her  children,  and  refusing  to  be 
comforted,"  Matt.  ii.  18.  Most  certainly,  the  Prophet 
Jeremiah  from  whom  this  is  cited,  did  not  predict  the 
massacre  in  Bethlehem  ;  but  describes  a  scene  that  oc- 
casioned in  his  own  time,  six  hundred  years  before  the 
birth  of  the  Saviour.     Yet  there  w^as  a  distant  resem- 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  221 

blance,  wliich  to  the  mind  of  Matthew,  steeped  as  it 
was  ill  Bible  memories,  might  occur  very  naturalK^ 
Indeed,  there  is  in  the  greater  number  of  these  quota- 
tions^ (viewed  from  the  rhetorical  standpoint,  as  our 
German  friends  would  say.)  a  tasteful  appropriateness 
which  must  strike  every  mind. 

But  secondly.  Our  writers  did  not  always  employ 
their  Jewish  recollections  iu  this  way.  As  ambassa- 
dors of  heaven,  they  had  a  serious  work  to  perform, 
which  would  not  allow  them  to  be  always  walking 
among  flowers,  or  gathering  shells  on  the  sea  shore. 
As  teachers  of  divine  truth,  expounders  of  the  way  of 
salvation,  they  were  to  address  frequently  the  pure  in- 
tellect of  men,  convincing  them  by  '-'sound  speech 
which  could  not  be  condemned,"  that  the  message 
they  brought  was  not  a  cunningly-devised  fable. 
Here  too,  they  recur  to  the  good  old  book.  But  the 
design  is  different.  It  is  no  more  regarded  as  a  cabinet 
of  gems  and  golden  ornaments,  but  a  treasure-house  of 
arguments  by  which  their  countrymen  may  be 
brought  to  the  ftet  of  the  Saviour — the  garden  becomes 
an  armory,  and  every  word  of  citation  belongs  to  the 
"company  of  valiant  men  standing  round  the  bed  of 
Solomon,  all  having  swords  and  expert  in  war  V'  In 
these  cases,  we  repel  the  changes  of  our  opponents 
with  indignant  earnestness,  affirming  that  in  every  in- 
stance the  Old  Testament  is  quoted,  according  to  its 
true  intent  and  meaning. 

If  it  be  asked,  how  we  may  determine  the  class  to 


222  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

which  a  passage  belongs,  we  are  compelled  to  say  that 
none  of  the  formulas  usually  employed  for  marking  a 
quotation,  will  be  of  much  assistance.  The  expres- 
sion, "  that  it  might  be  fulfilled,"  "  as  the  scripture 
saith,"  ifcc,  merely  point  out  a  general  correspondence 
without  explaining  its  nature,  and  may  undoubtedly 
be  prefixed  to  either  class,  though  some  interpreters 
have  attempted  to  make  distinctions.  There  is  how- 
ever no  practical  diflQculty  in  settling  questions  of  this 
kind.  After  reading  the  passage,  let  the  student  ask 
himself:  Is  the  sacred  writer  reasoning  here  ?  Is  the 
text  part  of  a  chain  of  argument  which  he  is  evidently 
carrying  on  either  to  instruct  a  pupil,  or  convict  a 
gainsayer?  Is  he  occupying  the  domain  of  intellect, — 
or  of  fancy,  and  feeling?  Let  him  do  this,  and  we 
promise  that  he  shall  not  find  more  than  six  passages 
in  the  New  Testament,  that  will  give  him  serious 
trouble.  Of  the  facility  with  which  the  principle  can 
be  applied,  take  one  or  two  examples. 

In  Acts  ii.  17,  the  Apostle  Peter  defending  him- 
self and  associates  from  the  charge  oT  drunkenness, 
tells  the  Jews  that  the  excitement  they  witnessed 
(on  the  day  of  Pentecost)  was  really  the  work  of  God's 
holy  Spirit,  and  distinctly  predicted  by  the  prophet 
Joel,  "  But  this  is  that  spoken  by  the  prophet  Joel ; 
and  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  those  days,  I  will  pour 
out  my  spirit,"  &c.  There  can  be  no  doubt  respecting 
the  class  to  which  this  belongs.  Peter  is  arguing  a 
solemn  and  weighty  point  with  professed  unbelievers. 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  223 

If  his  appeal  to  Joel  was  a  false  one,  and  that  it  would 
be,  if  Joel  did  not  refer  to  the  very  transaction  that 
was  going  on,  Peter  was  guihy  of  a  fraud  or  a  folly, 
which  deprived  him  of  all  right  to  be  respected  as  a 
teacher.  That  he  was  right,  and  that  the  prediction 
does  refer  to  Gospel  times,  is  universally  admitted  by 
fair  and  honest  critics.  In  tlie  same  chapter,  another 
striking  instance  occurs.  Speaking  of  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  which  his  unbelieving  audience  of  course 
denied,  he  quotes  a  paragraph  from  Psalm  xvi.  which 
asserts  concerning  some  one,  that  "  God  would  not 
leave  his  soul  in  hades,  or  suffer  his  holy  one  to  see 
corruption."  This  personage,  the  Apostle  in  an  ela- 
borate argument,  shows  could  not  be  David,  and  con- 
cludes in  the  3Ist  verse,  "  David  seeing  this  before, 
spake  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  that  his  soul  was 
not  left/'  6oc.  Here  again  we  say,  that  if  the  passage 
in  the  Old  Testament  does  not  mean  precisely  what 
the  apostle  says  it  meant,  his  character  is  gone  for- 
ever :  we  question  whether  miracle  could  have  saved 
it.  As  interpreters,  therefore,  we  are  bound  to  show 
tiiat  the  16th  Psalm  is  prophetic  of  Messiah,  which 
can  be  triumphantly  done. 

One  other  example.  When  we  open  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  we  find  it  commences  with  an  earnest 
argument  for  the  divinity  of  Christ.  It  begins  at  the 
5ih  verse,  and  consists  of  no  less  than  seven  allega- 
tions from  the  Old  Testament.  Now  it  cannot  be 
possible  that  these  are   merely  rhetorical.     If,   on  so 


224  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

grave  and  momentous  a  theme,  the  author  put  off  his 
readers  with  a  motley  collection  of  Rabbinical  con- 
ceits, the  credit  of  his  whole  epistle  would  have  been 
utterly  ruined  in  the  esteem  of  every  honest  man. 
That  he  has  not  done  so,  but  on  tbe  contrary,  that  he 
has  treated  his  authorities  with  logical  fairness  and 
accuracy,  could  easily  be  evinced. 

Our  remarks  have  been  directed  exclusively  to  the 
use  made  by  our  Lord  and  his  Apostles  of  the  Old 
Testament  for  the  reason  assigned,  viz.,  that  our 
opponents  draw  their  principal  arguments  from  this 
source.  With  regard  to  the  sanction  of  other  Jewish 
errors,  but  one  example  can  be  alleged  with  any 
plausibility:  we  refer  to  the  belief  in  demoniac  pos- 
session. It  certainly  appears  singular,  that  evil  spirits 
should  have  been  allowed  to  exercise  so  terrible  a 
power  over  the  bodies  of  men  in  one  particular  age  of 
the  world,  exclusive  of  all  succeeding  times  :  and  the 
symptoms  resemble  so  closely  those  of  insane  and 
epileptic  persons,  that  if  any  safe  expedient  were 
found  for  maintaining  that  Christ  did  not  intend  to 
teach  the  doctrine,  we  should  be  tempted  to  adopt  it. 
But  this  seems  impossible.  The  way  in  which  he 
always  treats  the  subject — his  conversations  with  the 
demons — the  various  circumstances  accompanying  the 
cure,  and  the  impression  uniformly  made  upon  the 
spectators,  absolutely  preclude  the  idea  that  he  em- 
ployed the  Jewish  notion  rhetoricall}^,  or  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  leave  it  doubtful  whether  he  himself 


THEORY    OF    ACCOMMODATION.  225 

believed  it.  We  therefore  accept  the  doctrine  as  part 
of  his  autlioritalive  teachings — earnestly  advisino-  our 
youni^  friends  not  to  indulge  a  habit  of  tliinkiuo-  j^ 
relation  to  it,  that  may  lead  ihein  to  the  verge  of  a 
precipice,  from  which  it  will  not  be  easy  to  retrace 
their  steps. 

If,  unfortunately,  a  man  cannot  bring  himself  to 
unite  with  us  in  the  acceptance,  we  would  remind 
him  that  he  does  far  less  dishonor  to  the  character  of 
Jesus,  by  holding  that  he  taught  an  error,  believing  it 

to  he  truth,  than    by  asserting  that   he  taught  it 

knowing  its  falsehood.  Perhaps  such  a  view  does 
not  necessarily  invalidate  his  authority  as  a  relio-ious 
teacher.  Jesus,  it  might  be  said,  was  a  7nan ;  and 
the  mysterious  union  with  a  higher  nature,  did  not 
establish  such  an  actual  communication  between  the 
Divine  and  Human,  that  he  in  the  latter  capacity 
exercised  the  prerogative  of  omniscience.  The  true 
pathology  of  disease  might  have  been  hidden  from 
him,  as  the  other  secrets  of  science — those  of  chem- 
istry for  instance;  and  thus,  as  he  changed  water 
into  wine  without  being  acquainted  with  the  ele- 
mentary molicules  which  compose  the  two  fluids, 
he  might  have  healed  diseases  with  the  same  im- 
perfect knowledge  of  their  causes  which  characterized 
his  age. 

We  have  no  liking  to  this  hypothesis.  The  doc- 
trine  of  demoniac  agency  has  too  many  points  of  con- 
tact with  fundamental  questions  in  morality  and  reli- 
10 


226  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

g'lon,  to  be  considered  a  mere  scientific  error ;  and  the 
supposition  that  our  blessed  Redeemer  should  be  the 
victim  of  delusion  on  a  point  so  momentous,  is  abhor- 
rent to  all  our  Christian  instincts.  Our  only  object  in 
suggesting  it,  is  to  affirm,  that  it  approaches  infinitely 
nearer  Christian  faith  than  the  villanous  doctrine  of 
"  accommodation."  The  man  of  piety  however,  stands 
in  no  need  of  it.  At  best,  the  scheme  is  a  perilous 
one,  bowever  it  may  claim  the  praise  of  harmlessness 
when  compared  with  a  worse.  Let  us  on  a  subject  so 
entirely  belonging  to  the  invisible  world,  and  beyond 
the  range  of  our  present  faculties,  cast  theory  to  the 
winds — cherishing  the  pleasant  and  surely  not  irra- 
tional behef,  that  at  a  certain  period  in  the  world's 
history,  the  holy  Providence  of  God  suffered  a  tempo- 
rary unloosing  of  the  powers  of  evil,  to  grace  the  ad- 
vent of  their  mighty  and  divine  Conqueror  ! 

On  the  whole,  no  student  of  his  Bible  has  the  least 
reason  to  fear  any  evil  consequences  from  the  most 
severe  and  searching  examination  of  the  topic  which 
we  have  been  considering.  The  assertions  of  our 
opponents  are  much  stronger  than  their  arguments — 
and  their  boldness  exceeds  their  discretion.  Deep 
reverence  for  God — a  cultivated  moral  sense — and 
above  all,  a  habitual  contemplation  of  the  perfect 
model  of  purity,  truth,  and  excellence  furnished  us  in 
the  character  of  the  great  Author  of  our  religion^  with 
a  respectable  degree  of  learning,  will  be  an  effectual 
safeguard,  unless  counteracted  by  external  influences. 


ART    OF    CRITICISINI.  227 

and  that  greatest  of  all  calamities,  a  naturally  cold 
and  sceptical  temperament. 


RULE    XI. 

We  must  endeavor  to  obtain  reasonable  certainty 
that  the  jyrinted  text  gives  the  true  reading  of  our 
book ;  and  for  this  j^urpose^  must  study  and  apply 
the  art  of  Criticism.  That  so  ancient  a  volume  as 
the  Bible  should  have  come  down  to  us  perfectly  free 
from  error,  is  a  supposition  too  absurd  to  be  reasoned 
with.  The  fact  is,  no  two  manuscripts  of  the  eight 
hundred  that  have  been  examined,  entirely  agree ; 
and  as  each  has  a  claim  to  be  heard,  we  must  often 
be  at  a  loss  in  /passing  judgment  on  their  discre- 
pancies. A  knowledge,  therefore,  of  the  principles 
according  to  which  such  questions  should  be  decided, 
with  ability  to  use  it,  is  indispensable.  We  have  no 
right  to  exercise  a  blind  and  lazy  faith  in  others, 
however  eminent — but  in  every  case  must  be  quali- 
fied, in  some  degree,  to  judge  for  ourselves.  The 
science  which  teaches  these  things  is  called  Criti- 
cism) and  thus  we  say,  that  every  interpreter  must 
be  to  a  certain  extent,  a  critic.  He  must  acquaint 
himself  with  the  history  of  the  text  in  different  ages, 
with  the  number  and  probable  age  of  the  different 
manuscripts,  their   notation  and    comparative   value, 


228  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

wilh  the  various  theories  of  the  learned  concerning 
tlieir  classification,  with  ancient  versions,  and  with 
the  '-canons,"'  as  they  are  called,  hy  whicli  the  in- 
trinsic excellence  of  readings  is  judged,  in  the  absence 
or  defect  of  external  evidence. 

Unfortunately  for  this  study,  a  bad  odor  has  been 
given  to  it  by  a  school  of  thinkers  in  Germany,  who 
have  carried  their  critical  speculations  beyond  all 
bounds  of  common  sense,  and  even  decency.  Catch- 
ing the  spirit  of  inquiry  which,  sixty  years  ago,  began 
to  separate  truth  from  error  in  classical  hislor}^  and 
literature,  they  with  reckless  ardor  directed  it  to  the 
Christian  revelation.  Establishing  themselves  as  the 
Wolfs  and  Niebuhrs  of  this  new  region,  they  soon 
began  to  doubt  the  integrit}'  of  large  portions  of  scrip- 
ture, on  the  ground  of  what  they  called  the  "Higher 
Criticism;-' — this  Higher  Criticism  being  a  sort  of 
inward  light,  enabling  its  possessor  to  distinguish 
between  the  genuine  and  the  spurious  by  simple  per- 
ception— in  direct  opposition  to  manuscripts,  versions, 
imiform  tradition,  and  every  other  accredited  source 
of  evidence.  One  doubt  prepared  the  way  for  another, 
doubt  ripened  into  denial;  and  so  the  work  of  mu- 
tilation has  been  going  on,  until  our  Bible  has  become 
a  thing  of  shreds  and  patches,  the  like  of  which  has 
been  never  seen  in  the  shape  of  a  written  document. 

But  all  this  is  no  argument  against  the  true  Cri- 
tical art,  which  consists  in  a  searching,  yet  sober 
examination  of  the  text,  according  to  fixed  laws,  and 


ART    OF    CRITICISM.  229 

with  sacred  regard  to  the  maxim  laid  down  by  the 
illustrious  Griesbach,  "Let  nothing  be  changed  from 
conjecture."  The  fear  of  danger  from  such  studies 
is  unw^orthy  of  a  Christian  man.  It  implies  a  cow- 
ardly suspicion  that  something  is  rotten  at  the  foun- 
dation, when  examination  would  prove  the  soundness 
of  every  beam — and  that  not  a  stone  of  the  least  im- 
portance to  the  building  is  displaced.  Our  religion, 
blessed  be  God,  is  not  a  trumped-up  fable!  It  came 
to  do  a  great  work  in  the  world,  and  the  evidence  of 
that  wonderful  book  in  which  it  is  recorded  shall  con- 
tinue while  earth  endures.  What  a  host  of  opposition 
has  it  not  already  overcome  ?  Judaism  fell  before  it 
in  forty  years.  In  three  centuries,  it  rose  on  the  ruins 
of  Paganism  to  the  empire  of  the  civilized  world. 
It  survived  the  arts  and  oppressions  of  Antichrist. 
The  Atheistic  conspiracy  which  rose  up  against  it  in 
Europe  half  a  century  since,  it  laughed  to  scorn. 
Yearly,  it  is  extending  its  triumphs  over  new  re- 
gions. And  after  all,  shall  it  fear  to  have  its  papers 
searched  ?  Shall  it  quail  before  a  score  or  two  of 
pragmatical  Germans,  who,  whatever  be  their  learn- 
ing and  one-sided  acuteness,  give  slender  proof  of  that 
large  comprehensiveness  of  vision  which  distinguished 
a  Bacon  and  a  Locke,  with  a  thousand  others,  who 
after  the  most  brilliant  achievements  in  science,  were 
proud  to  lay  their  honors  at  its  feet ! 

Had  our  good  fathers  in  the  seventeenth  century 
made   these  reflections,  they  would   have  avoided  a 
10* 


230  IXTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

sad  blunder.  Instead  of  raising  a  senseless  clamor 
against  such  men  as  Capellus,  Wetstein,  Mill,  and 
Walton,  who  led  the  way  in  examining  critically  the 
text  of  scripture  ;  they  would  have  hailed  their  labors 
as  invaluable  contributions  to  Christianity.  We  con- 
fess that  we  never  recall  their  historv  without  a  feelinsf 
of  shame.  With  talents,  and  a  force  of  character  that 
would  have  raised  them  to  eminence  in  any  pursuit, 
they  chose — instead  of  roaming  through  the  flowery 
fields  of  the  classics,  to  labor  at  the  obscure  task  of 
defecating  the  word  of  God  from  its  numerous  blots 
and  excrescences.  They  hid  themselves  in  their 
studies  as  in  prison  cells,  and  delved  for  thirty  years 
among  old  musty  half  effaced  manuscripts  which 
could  not  be  decyphered  without  the  aid  of  micro- 
scopes ;  collating  one  with  another,  comparing  word 
with  word  and  letter  with  letter:  occasionally,  they 
would  devour  by  way  of  paslime  the  folio  of  an  old 
Greek  and  Latin  father,  and  after  more  than  half  a 
lifetime  of  such  drudgery,  they  came  forth  with  the 
momentous  results — to  be  received  with  universal 
execration  !  Instead  of  beinsr  thanked  for  discovering- 
the  many  faults  of  the  received  text,  they  were  charged 
with  being  themselves  corrupters  of  the  pure  word  of 
God.  Even  the  excellent  John  Owen  entirely  lost 
his  temper,  and  told  them  that  "  they  would  have 
acted  a  wiser  part  if  they  had  buried  their  discoveries 
in  the  earth,  and  never  suffered  a  various  reading  to 
see  the  light.     What  a  bulk  and  heap,"  he  exclaims. 


ART    OF    CRITICISM.  231 

"are  they  swelled  to  !  The  collection  of  them  makes 
up  a  heap  bigger  than  the  Bible,  and  whither  this 
work  may  yet  grow  I  know  not.  Taking  them  alto- 
gether, I  cannot  but  look  on  them  as  an  engine  suited 
to  the  destruction  of  the  truth,  and  as  a  fit  weapon 
put  into  the  hands  of  men  of  atheistical  principles  such 
as  this  age  abounds  in,  to  oppose  the  whole  evidence 
of  truth  revealed  in  the  scriptures.  I  fear  that  Roman- 
ism or  Atheism  will  be  found  to  lie  at  the  door." 

This  is  a  doleful  paragraph.  It  is  really  sad  to 
think  of  such  a  man  as  Owen — the  prince  of  orthodox 
polemics — the  irrefragable  Doctor — '^  glorious  John," 
making  such  a  fool  of  himself— ready  to  give  up  the 
ghost  in  mortal  agony,  because  Brian  Walton  and  his 
associates  are  wearing  out  their  very  lives  in  the  en- 
deavor to  provide  him  with  a  good  New  Testament! 
To  think  of  such  a  gallant  war-horse,  whose  neck  was 
clothed  with  thunder  in  presence  of  an  enemy,  being 
thrown  into  a  perfect  frenzy  of  terror  at  the  sight  of  a 
few  honest  friends,  engaged  in  winnowing  his  pro- 
vender !  If  the  principles  of  such  men  had  been  adopt- 
ed, it  is  easy  to  tell  the  consequences.  There  would 
have  been  an  end  to  free  investigation  on  the  most  im- 
portant and  fundamental  poijits  in  theology.  Mill  and 
Walton  would  have  been  served  with  an  injunction 
from  the  Lord  Chancellor !  Ignorance  would  have  ex 
eluded  forever  enlightened  certainty  !  Dr.  Owen  would 
have  burnt  all  the  manuscripts  to  prevent  their  blab- 
bing, and  what  in  this  case  would  the  evidence  be 


232  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

worthj  that  the  original  documents  of  our  faith  had 
come  down  unimpaired  ! 

Happil}',  those  who  undertook  the  work  of  emenda- 
tion were  not  men  of  straw.  It  advanced  bravely,  and 
the  result  has  been  a  glorious  accession  to  the  proofs 
of  Christianity,  which  its  warmest  friends  could 
scarcely  anticipate.  Of  the  mass  of  various  readings 
collected,  not  one  hundredth  part  in  the  least  degree 
affects  the  sense.  They  consist  almost  wholly  of 
minute  grammatical  differences,  slight  transpositions  or 
.^substitutions  of  one  particle  for  another,  so  trifling 
that  one  is  apt  to  wonder  how  they  came  to  be  noticed. 
The  question  of  substantial  incorruptness  is  now  put  to 
rest,  and  will  probably  never  be  revived.  That  Religion 
will  continue  to  receive  benefit  from  critical  investiga- 
tions, we  have  not  a  doubt.  Human  learning  in  all 
its  forms — even  the  most  unsanctified,  shall  contribute 
to  strengthen  the  foundations  of  our  holy  and  beauti- 
ful temple,  and  Zion  shall,  according  to  the  promise, 
be  enriched  with  the  spoils  of  her  enemies  ! 

This  is  not  prediction  merely,  for  it  is  already  true. 
The  lover  of  his  Bible,  when  he  sits  down  to  examine 
the  subject,  will  be  surprised  to  find  how  httle  has  been 
really  accomplished  by  the  bold  innovators  of  the  day. 
On  the  contrary,  many  difficulties  have  been  removed, 
and  dark  places  made  plain.  Certainty  has  been  given 
to  what  formerly  was  wished — and  hoped,  rather  than 
known,  truth  separated  from  error,  and  her  friends  en- 
lightened as  to  the  best  way  of  defending  her.     Many 


ART    OF    CRITICISM.  233 

of  the  learned  who  have  distinguished  themselves  by 
the  looseness  their  speculations,  are  beginning  to  see 
tliat  they  have  gone  too  far,  and  are  retracing  their 
steps.  Some  have  even  made  a  public  recantation, 
and  are  vigorous  champions  of  the  faith  which  once 
they  persecuted. 

We  dwell  on  this  subject  at  some  length,  because 
we  fear  that  prejudices  still  linger  among  us,  which 
ought  to  be  corrected.  Our  desire  is,  to  vindicate  a 
most  important  branch  of  theological  learning — and 
to  convince  our  young  friends,  that  if  disposed  to  pro- 
secule  it  in  their  private  reading,  ihey  may  do  so  with- 
out serious  danger.  Bat  were  the  danger  ever  so 
imminent  still  they  must  prosecute  it.  The  leligious 
teacher  is  not  at  liberty  in  the  matter — more  than  the 
soldier  is  at  liberty  to  decline  facing  the  enemy,  be- 
cause he  may  be  shot!  It  is  a  proposition  entirely 
self-evident,  that  if  Christianity  be  defended  from  those 
w4iO  are  scattering  around  lire-brands,  arrows,  and 
death,  it  can  only  be  done  by  a  thorough  investigation 
of  all  those  topics  that  are  employed  against  it.  Criti- 
cism is  one  of  those  poisons,  to  which  there  is  no  other 
antidote  but  the  poison  itself  It  is  like  the  fire  of 
Phaeton,  which  Jupiter  could  only  extinguish  by  the 
fire  of  his  thunder. 

"Tgnes  compescuit  ignibus." 

If  a  phalanx  of  erudite  German  neolog-ists  attack  the 


234  INTERPRETATION    OF    SCRIPTURE. 

authenticity  of  the  Pentateuch — teUing  us  that  it  was 
forged  by  some  obscure  priest  during  or  after  the 
Babylonian  captivity,  that  the  greater  part  of  Isaiali 
was  written  long  after  his  death,  that  large  portions 
of  Matthew,  Luke,  and  John  are  interpolations,  that 
the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  must  be  stricken  from 
the  Canon,  and  that  the  Apocalypse  was  written 
by  a  half-crazed  Gnostic — something  more  must  be 
done  than  groaning — knitting  the  brows — or  hurling 
at  them  an  "  exorciso  te  scelestissime."  The  Christian 
minister  must  stand  up  to  them  and  play  the  man — 
not  the  ostrich,  who  on  the  approach  of  an  adversary, 
shuts  his  eyes   and  runs  away — screaming! 

After  all  that  has  been  said,  truth  and  candor  require 
us  to  make  a  concession.  We  are  far  from  asserting 
that  the  study  of  criticism  will  make  no  change  in  the 
views  of  a  student  nourished  in  the  traditional  belief. 
Let  it  be  remembered,  that  the  subjects  of  which  it 
treats,  have  not  until  lately  received  thorough  exami- 
nation ;  while  our  systems  and  catechisms  were  framed 
long  before.  Now  it  would  be  passing  strange,  if  no 
new  light  was  reflected  on  them  by  the  labors  of  so 
many  learned.  He  must  calculate  therefore,  on  being 
occasionally  compelled  to  modify  his  former  opinions. 
Perhaps  he  thinks  at  present,  that  every  word  con- 
tained within  the  two  boards  of  the  New  Testament 
that  lies  on  his  table,  is  indited  by  the  Spirit  of  God, 
and  would  look  w^th  horror  on  the  man  who  affirms 


ART    OF    CRITICISM.  235 

that  1  John  v.  7  is  an  interpolation.  His  notions 
may  not  always  be  so  severe.  He  is  sure  that  Paul 
wrote  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Perhaps  he  will 
discover,  that  though  certainly  written  by  an  aposto- 
lical man,  yet  a  doubt  concerning  its  Pauline  origin 
should  not  bring  down  the  greater  excommunication. 
He  will  also  find  that  some  books,  2  Peter  and  2d 
and  3d  John  for  instance,  have  not  the  full  evidence 
of^  authenticity  possessed  by  the  others,  and  will  feel 
the  propriety  of  deducting  a  little  from  that  unlimited 
confidence  he  would  otherwise  repose  in  them. 

But  w4io  will  say,  that  he  ought  not  to  change  his 
views  when  they  are  clearly  seen  to  be  prejudices  of 
education  ?  The  fear  that  a  modification  in  thinfj-s  small 
and  unessential  may  lead  to  an  upturning  of  the 
whole  system  of  belief,  is  most  groundless.  The  very 
contrary  is  the  fact ;  for  by  separating  truth  from  the 
chaff  which  has  been  mingled  with  it,  he  sees  more 
clearly  its  evidence,  and  can  defend  it  with  greater 
efficiency  and  success.  If  the  writer  were  permitted  to 
give  a  small  leaf  from  the  book  of  his  own  experience, 
he  would  say,  that  not  a  week  passes  over  his  head, 
in  which  he  does  not  find  reason  to  correct  some  par- 
tial or  erroneous  notion,  that  he  had  received  he  knows 
not  how — and  without  examination.  But  so  far  from 
unsettling  great  fundamental  principles,  he  invariably 
finds  that  his  conviction  is  strengthened  by  every  suc- 
cessive change.     The  number  of  Christian  disciples  is 


236  INTERPRETATION    OF   SCRIPTURE. 

very  small,  who  would  not  find  their  advantage, 
in  subjecting  their  religious  opinions  to  the  same 
course  of  treatment  which  the  great  lord  of  the  vine- 
yard adopts  toward  his  fruit-bearing  branches :  '•  He 
purgeth  them,  that  they  may  bring  forth  more  fruit." 


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DATE  DUE 

4M»^»«IS 





'ZZZE 

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CAVLORO 

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l»HINTeOtNU.»  A. 

